A Jinchuriki's Husk
by NaruDeeds
Summary: Sakura is trying to convince Naruto that she truly meant it when she said she loved him in the Iron Country.  What happens to Naruto when Sasuke comes and makes her shatter the heart of everyone's favorite jinchuriki?  rated T just in case
1. The Manipulators

Ohayo! Welcome to my first fanfic which just so happens to be a NaruSaku story.

This story is set after Naruto tells Sasuke if he tries to destroy Konoha then they will end up fighting and both of them will die. The story sticks mostly to canon, but I'm going to be twisting it here and there to fit the stories' needs.

First thing- ya ya the village should be destroyed still thanks to Pain wtfpwning Konoha. But for the sake of this story, we're just going to say with the help of a Naruto clone army Konoha's completely rebuilt (OMIGOSH!)

So anywho… I'm aiming for this story to be around 8-10 chapters, I won't rule out the possibility of more, but for now I think 8-10 chapters is a reasonable goal. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy (reviews are VERY welcome!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Sakura would've wanted Naruto since the very first Naruto manga =P Oh, and Jiraiya would never have died, or at least been resurrected. Because Jiraiya was awesome.

* * *

A black cloak with red clouds flapped in the wind as red eyes with three tomoes looked over Konoha. Sasuke Uchiha, the "last" Uchiha, the avenger, scanned his former home looking for his former number one fan girl and teammate. He smirked,

"This is going to be too easy. Madara was a fool to think I wouldn't be able to capture Naruto."

Catching a glance of pink hair he soundlessly leapt from his perch, masking his chakra presence, silently following Sakura Haruno, apprentice of the last remaining Sannin, the fifth Hokage. He watched as Sakura entered her apartment, and took out a vial with a strange liquid in it.

_FLASHBACK_

_Sasuke stood in the dark laboratory and watched as Orichimaru added the blue petals of the morning glory flower he painstakingly tracked down to his small pot. While annoyed with the flower collecting mission, the snake sannin promised it would be worth his while._

"_All finished."_

"_And what exactly is this, that is so useful it was worth my two day excursion to retrieve a single flower when I could've been training to get stronger so I can kill Itachi?" Sasuke spat._

"_Ah Sasuke, so grumpy, you should learn a little more patience," Orichimaru cooed in a sickeningly sweet tone, "just slip this potion into your enemy's food or drink and you will be able to control them completely with your sharingan. The best part of this potion is that even the most powerful and aware shinobi won't realize they're under your control, they will believe that they are doing whatever you make them do of their own free will."_

_Sasuke smirked, "and what's to stop me from using this on you?"_

_Orichimaru's sickening laughter filled the room, "Because dear Sasuke, you don't need to. I've already agreed to give you the power you seek." _

_FLASH IN_

_I'm glad that snake bastard proved weak enough for me to not have to use this potion on. This is going to make capturing Naruto much easier._

Sasuke smirked as he waited for the right moment to enter Sakura's apartment.

* * *

Sakura Haruno was bustling through her apartment after a long day at the hospital. It was days like today when she believed there was an actual conspiracy amongst the Konoha shinobi to make her life hell.

Of course today, when three nurses and one other medinin called off, was the day that seemingly every shinobi in all of Konoha would come into the hospital injured. To make it through the day she had to eat soldier pills like they were M&Ms. She jumped onto her large soft couch and looked around her apartment.

It wasn't the biggest apartment, but it wasn't the smallest and it had plenty of space for her liking. The walls were painted a dark maroon color and the carpet was chocolate brown, with furniture matching the maroon and brown color scheme. She liked the color scheme, but if her plans succeeded, she might have to switch it soon, to something that includes orange.

_Naruto…_

A dreamy smile fluttered across her face as she became lost in thoughts of Naruto and what their life was going to be like together. She dreamed of kids with shining sapphire eyes running around a laughing Naruto in hokage robes… Sakura was so lost in her thoughts that she completely lost track of time and was shocked when she looked up at the clock and it read 1 a.m.

_Crap! I gotta get going!_

Sakura sprung up off the couch and ran out of her apartment, almost forgetting to lock the door. After her door was locked she took to the rooftops and leapt towards Naruto's apartment with a small smile on her face.

She would never see the cruel smirk that passed across the lips of "her Sasuke-kun."

* * *

Sasuke watched Sakura leave with a cruel smirk on his face. Once she was out of sight he checked for any signs of activity in any of her neighbors' apartments, detecting none he slipped into Sakura's apartment through her bedroom window.

He silently walked past his former fan girl's king-sized bed and into the hallway. Like a shadow he made his way into her kitchen and found her fridge. Opening the fridge he began pondering what Sakura was sure to drink within the next few days. He remembered the girl's love of hot chocolate and grabbed her milk carton.

As he poured Orichimaru's potion into the milk he couldn't help but wonder where the pink-haired medinin would go off to at this hour, he figured he probably shouldn't take longer than he needed in case she just went out for a quick stroll. While Sakura may have always been the weak one of Team 7, she was fairly bright and Sasuke reckoned she wouldn't be stupid enough to drink the milk if she came in and saw him pouring a potion into it.

After emptying the entire potion into the carton, Sasuke closed it back up and shook it effectively mixing the potion and milk together. For the thousandth time that night Sasuke smirked and thought,

_Too easy._

Sasuke exited Sakura's apartment the same way he came with his cocky Uchiha smirk firmly plastered onto his face.

_Now to wait. Soon dobe I'm going to take you to the Akatsuki, and without you here, there will be no one left to stop me from completely eradicating Konoha and all of its people from the face of the Earth just like they did to my clan…_

_

* * *

_

"_What… did… you say just now… Sakura-chan?" asked a bewildered Naruto. "I… dunno if I heard you wrong… Can you say it again…?" Naruto was trying to get his mind to process a thought, any thought. Never in a million years would he have expected this, and judging by the stunned looks on the faces of his friends they hadn't either._

"_What I said Naruto… is that I love you!" Sakura repeated with an odd smile and her eyes tilted away from his. "I'm saying that there's nothing between me and Sasuke anymore! I don't know what I was thinking liking a person like that. I'm confessing my feelings here so listen up!"_

_Naruto just sat there still absolutely stunned, slowly his mind started functioning again. This didn't make any sense, Sakura loves Sasuke, she has always loved Sasuke that's just how the world works. There has to be something going on here…_

"…_but how? Why?" Naruto sputtered. "If you tell a joke like that in a situation like this, it aint funny… Sakura-chan." Naruto was confused by the sad look that overtook Sakura's face. None of this made any sense…_

_The cherry blossom forced a smile on her beautiful face before trying to explain herself to her "love." _

"_Nothing, really I just suddenly realized there's no sense to continually like someone who's a fugitive and a criminal. I can't stay a kid forever…I want to face reality." The kunoichi forced her smile into a grin, "So Naruto no need to keep that promise… Won't you stop chasing Sasuke?"_

_Naruto was shocked, he wanted to believe this was true. He wanted to so bad... This was Sakura, HIS Sakura-chan, the woman he had loved all his life and dedicated his life to making her happy. But something still seemed off, this still didn't make sense. Naruto couldn't bring himself to believe his pink-haired teammate._

"_Did something happen… Sakura-chan?" he slowly uttered trying to think of any and every reason why Sakura would suddenly decide she "loved" him. He knew that he could never beat Sasuke no matter how hard he tried when it came to Sakura's heart, so there just had to be some sort of reason. Maybe something was spooking her…_

"_Why me of all people all of a sudden…"_

_A soft, yet sad smile graced his crush's face. _

"_If you want to know why I started liking you I'll say it clearly!" Sakura lunged forward catching Naruto in a strong, yet desperate embrace. "Sasuke-kun just keeps getting further from me… But you Naruto, you've always stayed by my side… you've encouraged me." _

_Sakura's sad, soft smile was replaced with a soft and genuine smile as she continued. _

"_I… finally realized who you really are Naruto. The hero who protected the village…beloved by everyone in the village… I'm just one of them. That mischievous little dummy that I knew… little by little is becoming this great and important man. And I've been watching from right next to him."_

_As Naruto heard the love of his life, "spill her soul" to him, he wanted so badly to believe her. He tried telling his mind that this was real, to believe his Sakura-chan's words… But his mind was having none of it, and no matter how hard he tried to ignore them, memories of Sakura's love for Sasuke flooded through his mind. _

"_But all Sasuke's done is commit crimes and break my heart…" his pink-haired crush went on, "More and more he's becoming a different person than he was, so distant. But you Naruto… you're right here where I can touch you like this… you make me feel safe."_

_As Sakura continued memories of Sakura's love for Sasuke continued to flash through the jinchurki's mind. As each memory passed, he tried reasoning that Sakura was just a child then, she couldn't really know what real love was then. Then that memory came. The day that his heart was crushed into thousands of tiny pieces and lit aflame. The day that Naruto Uzumaki made a promise that would change the course of his life. The day that Naruto gave Sakura his promise of a lifetime. _

_As he watched this memory he was reminded that Sakura truly loved Sasuke, in the war for Sakura's heart, he could never beat Sasuke… To Sakura, Naruto is a tool that to be used for the retrieval of Sasuke, and comfort until Sasuke comes back. She was just using him again, trying to use his feelings for her to get him to do what SHE wanted._

"_Right now, from the bottom of my heart I…"_

"_GIMME A BREAK SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled. "I told you that joke's not funny."_

_It killed him to see sadness fill her beautiful emerald eyes and a frown replace the soft smile she had just a moment ago. But he had to do this, he couldn't allow himself to be used, not now. There was too much on the line. He needed to be strong. Sakura Haruno loves Sasuke Uchiha, the end._

"_Have you flipped?" responded Sakura with a strained smile now on her face. "I just switched from Sasuke to you… they say a woman's heart is changeable as an Autumn sky don't they?" that strained smile was replaced with a look of shock as Naruto looked into her eyes,_

"_I hate people who lie to themselves!" _

_Sakura's face went blank, then a cruel smirk worked its way onto her features. _

"_You're not as big of a baka as I thought! You're right Naruto, I was lying to you. The truth is, I'm going away with the man I love, MY Sasuke-kun. I'm leaving Konoha behind and I don't want you to follow. I was trying to do this the nice way. I was going to make you think you had my love, then "sacrifice" myself to stop Sasuke-kun. But since you caught onto that trick I'm just going to have to do be brutally honest with you. You brought this upon yourself dobe." _

_Sakura smirked exactly like Sasuke and her eyes turned into mangekyo sharingans._

"_I will never love you. I will never accept you. I only put up with you because you are a demon, and having a pet demon could be very useful in retrieving MY Sasuke-kun. You are the Kyubi, stop trying to find happiness. You don't deserve it demon scum." Sakura spat out, a look of disgust on her face._

_Naruto dropped to the ground, shocked at what just came out of Sakura's mouth. Both his mind and his heart shattered at the same time. He dropped to his knees and let out an ear piercing scream as he allowed the Kyuubi to take over. _

_Suddenly he was in Konoha, in front of him stood Sasuke and Sakura, wrapped in each other's arms, cruelly smirking at him. Sakura pointed at the people of Konoha and said two chilling words, _

"_Kill boy."_

_The Kyubi'fied Naruto leapt at the people of Konoha mercilessly tearing apart each and every citizen._

"_STOP THIS! PLEASE STOP THIS!" screamed Naruto in his mind._

_

* * *

_

Sakura was in Naruto's room staring down at him with a frown on her face. She was late, Naruto always fell asleep at midnight on the dot, and if she didn't get to him before 12:30 nightmares would plague him.

She was late tonight and as a result tears were streaking down the face of the hero she loved as he thrashed about his bed murmuring, "Stop this, please stop this!" She hated seeing him like this. Without wasting any more time Sakura formed some hand signs.

"Yume-no Sakura Jutsu." she whispered placing her hand on her teammates head. She smiled as she ran her hand through his hair while his thrashing died down and his tears stopped. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, then whispered in his ear,

"Soon, soon I'll be able to tell you the truth Naruto. Soon you won't have to suffer anymore."

She gave him one last smile before leaping out his window.

It had been a month since Sakura had started coming to Naruto's room every night and placing her special genjutsu she created for him to alter his dreams.

Konoha's only pink-haired kunoichi wanted to tell Naruto so badly that while she told Naruto she loved him in Iron Country for all the wrong reasons, she did in fact mean them. But she knew her Naruto. He was stubborn, and he never accepted just how special he was. Especially when it came to them, Naruto didn't believe he had a shot at winning Sakura's heart. That mixed with his stubbornness would only cause him to call bullshit on her if she tried telling him that she truly loved him.

So Sakura created a genjutsu just for him, the "Yume-no sakura jutsu" that would make Naruto dream of her loving the knucklehead. Eventually with the dreams, he would be more likely to accept her declaration of love, she just needed to be patient. And patient she could be. Naruto Uzumaki, Kyubi jinchuriki, student of the great Toad Sannin Jiraiya, sage, hero of Konoha, future Hokage, was worth waiting for.

* * *

_Kyubi Naruto tore the arms off a terrified villager and began to stalk toward the Gondaime Hokage when the sweet scent of cherry blossoms filled the air. Suddenly cherry blossoms filled his vision, calming him down. As his eyes returned to their normal sapphire blue, a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around him._

"_Baka Naruto, calm down. I love you" came the voice of his Sakura-chan. He turned around and was gasped when he saw Sakura's beautiful emerald eyes filled with nothing but love for him. Sakura leaned in so their foreheads were touching, that sweet smile still set on her angelic face._

"_Thanks for waiting for me Naruto. I'm sorry I was stupid enough to think I loved Sasuke. You are the only man I love, the only man I will ever love. I can't wait to spend my life with you."_

_As his cherry blossom angel spoke these words his shattered heart began to put itself back together._

"_Soon, soon I'll be able to tell you the truth Naruto. Soon you won't have to suffer anymore."_

Naruto Uzumaki, Kyubi jinchuriki, legacy of the Yondaime, student of the great Toad Sannin Jiraiya, sage, hero of Konoha, future Hokage, had a huge grin plastered on his face in his sleep.

* * *

Sakura could barely move her body by the time she made it back to her apartment, the yume-no sakura jutsu really took a lot out of her when combined with her exhausting day at the hospital.

Opening her fridge, she grabbed her carton of milk, pouring some milk into a kettle which she put on a stove. Once the milk was hot enough, she mixed in some cocoa powder and gulped down her favorite warm beverage. With her cocoa finished, the exhausted kunoichi finally went to bed.

Watching through her window, Sasuke Uchiha fought to suppress an evil cackle and opted for one of his trademark Uchiha smirks.

* * *

Woohoo! First chapter complete! Admittingly this chapter is about half the length of my target range for a chapter, but this just felt like the perfect place to stop. Stay tuned for updates and please do review!


	2. Perfect

Wow! One day three reviews in a good 20'ish people either adding this story to their favorites or their watch list! Awesome. I'm truly flattered and now I understand what authors are talking about when they say reviews and what not help motivate them to write another chapter!

I would like to personally give a shout out/thanks to the three that left a review: Oh My Kira, Lavoisiae, and Gen. Malaise.

Gen. Maialise: Hahaha, unfortunately that damn Orichimaru is too crafty and his potions do just fine in boiling milk! And I needed Sasuke to be a crazy asshole for the first chapter because what he's doing is REALLY mean, a bit out of Sasuke's character. I'm going to try to real him into a more canon'like character after all this Konoha business is said and done, and I tried to humanize him a LITTLE bit in this chapter…. But he's still bat shit crazy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Sakura would've bitch smacked Sasuke the first time he ignored her. AND Jiraiya and Tsunade would've gotten together. Pervy sages need love too!

And now without further ramblings, A Jinchuriki's Husk- Chapter 2: Perfect

* * *

Sakura grumbled as she woke up, the morning came far too quickly for her liking. Not that she regretted it. Lack of sleep was totally worth getting Naruto to accept that he won her heart, and as an added perk, she was able to save her knucklehead from a nightmare last night.

That thought managed to wake her fully up and she sprang out of her bed. Looking at the clock she cursed Kami for making hospital shifts start so early. Seriously, why can't people wait till at least 10 to get sick and hurt? Is that too much to ask? Sakura made a couple of pieces of toast and headed off to the hospital.

"You're late Forehead!"

"Sorry pig, I was… well, I didn't get to bed until late last night and I overslept." Sakura did NOT want to tell Ino about what she was doing to Naruto every night. Even though she is technically Sakura's best friend (excluding Naruto of course), Ino was the biggest gossip in all of Konoha and as soon as she got wind of what Sakura was doing, all of Konoha would know. And Sakura really didn't want Konoha's number one ninja at surprising people to catch wind of her late night activities. Not yet anyway.

"I see," Ino smirked. "So how was Naruto last night? I expect he had sweet dreams?"

"WHAT?" Sakura was so shocked she couldn't help but yell that out. If anyone at Konoha was still asleep, they were certainly awake now. "I don't know what you are talking about Pig. I didn't go to Naruto's last night, and how would I know if he had sweet dreams?"

Ino fixed Sakura with an insulted look, "Oh come on Forehead, I have a mindreader jutsu, I've known what you've been up to this entire past month. You're putting a genjutsu on Naruto every night so he dreams about you and him together!"

"Not so loud Pig!" Sakura hissed. "And to answer your earlier question… it's none of your business!"

"Fine" Ino huffed. "But seriously Sakura, you've been at it for a month now. Isn't it about time you stop this and tell him the truth?"

"I'm working on it Ino, I think I'll tell him soon. I just need the right moment to present itself." As the words left the pink-haired kunoichi's mouth, a blush enveloped her face matching her vibrant hair.

Ino opened her mouth to retort as they reached the hospital's doors.

"Oh look, we're here! Well, no more time for idle chit chat pig, time for work!" Sakura sped away from the Ino inquisition.

"Coward…" Ino muttered after her best friend.

* * *

"WHAT?" a familiar voice shouted somewhere in the streets stirring Naruto Uzumaki from his peaceful slumber. A gentle breeze greeted him and light was pouring through his open window. As had been the case for the entire past month, the window was mysteriously open even though he could've sworn he shut it. He would have to figure out what the hell was wrong with his window before winter came...

As he swung out of bed, memories of his dream last night swarmed in front of him.

"_Soon, soon I'll be able to tell you the truth Naruto. Soon you won't have to suffer anymore."_

Normally the jinchuriki would write those words off as wishful thinking from his subconscious manifesting itself in his dreams, but for the past month he's been having similar dreams, where Sakura always is telling him she loves him. Him, Naruto Uzumaki, not Sasuke Uchiha. Maybe kami was trying to send a sign.

_Now that I think about it, Sakura has been acting much nicer to me ever since we got back from Iron Country. I originally wrote it off as part gratitude for me keeping some sliver of hope alive for Team 7 re-uniting and part her feeling guilty about accidentally poisoning me. But with these dreams… maybe I do have a shot!_

Naruto's features turned upwards into a grin at the thought. He cautiously allowed himself to hope just a little bit that Sakura could be his Sakura-chan yet.

But a small sliver of hope isn't enough.

_I need to see if there is something to these dreams, I haven't asked Sakura-chan on a date since we got back from Iron Country… It's settled then! I'm going to ask Sakura-chan if she wants to get ramen with me believe it!_

As this thought passed through the blonde's brain he struck a nice guy pose for no one in particular. After 30 seconds of holding the pose, Naruto realized what exactly he was doing.

_Maybe I've been hanging out with Bushy Brows too much…_

_

* * *

_

Sasuke didn't see the point of following Sakura into the hospital, it would be harder to stay hidden in there anyways. He could just make Sakura walk up to his former "brother" and stomp on his heart, but that wouldn't be good enough to completely break Naruto. The avenger knew he needed the right moment to strike, he needed to wait for a moment when the jinchuriki lowered the guard to his heart and would be truly vulnerable to his favorite cherry blossom. Only then would Naruto be broken enough where he could take him to the Akatsuki without a fight.

The "last" Uchiha really needed this moment to arrive soon though. Being back in the village where he grew up, he couldn't help but reminisce on his younger days. The time spent in the academy, his time as a member of team seven. He had truly enjoyed those days, and the longer he reflected back on them, the more his resolve to destroy Konoha and its people wavered.

But he could not let this happen. He is Sasuke Uchiha, top of the famous Rookie 9, the avenger. Konoha slaughtered his mother, father, his clan. Konoha forced him to kill his own brother. No, Sasuke could not waver. Konoha deserved death, the Uchiha deserved vengeance.

_That dobe is probably training. I should go spy on him a little with my free time. This plan will certainly work, but if for some reason it doesn't, it won't hurt to see just how much the dobe has improved during our time apart._

_

* * *

_

"KUCHIYOSU NO JUTSU!" Naruto yelled as he slammed his palm into the ground creating a familiar poof of smoke.

"Naruto-chan? What is it?" Fukusaku, the great sage toad inquired.

"Ne Geezer sage, I'm going to train to take in nature chakra as I move some more."

"It's not possible Naruto-chan! And why would you train for that here when we could just summon you to Mount Myoboku where gathering nature chakra would be easier?"

"My fight with Sasuke will be here, in Konoha. So I need to make sure I can do it here."

With that, Naruto took off and instantly began drawing in nature chakra with Fukusaku close behind bopping the jinchuriki on the head with his stick whenever he began exhibiting a toad-like appearance.

Much to Fukusaku's shock, Jiraiya's apprentice began to show signs of entering sage mode while moving. He was nowhere near the level where he could maintain sage mode continuously, but he may be able to extend the duration of his sage mode with this training.

_The more I see of Naruto-chan, the more I am convinced, he truly is the child of prophecy._

Fukusaku was surprised at Naruto's demeanor. Normally the boy would be ecstatic from his progress, but the first time he started to enter sage mode a frown appeared on his face and stayed there.

After two hours, an exhausted Fukusaku dismissed himself back to Mount Myoboku, leaving a still frowning Naruto with a few words of encouragement.

"You did well today Naruto-chan! Summon me again tomorrow and we'll continue this training." And with that, the "Geezer Toad Sage" poofed away.

The future Hokage didn't seem to hear this though, he couldn't shake it. That chakra signature he felt when he started entering sage mode, was one he would always recognize…

_Sasuke…._

The jinchuriki sat down in a meditative position and entered sage mode, scanning each and every chakra signature in Konoha…

* * *

Sasuke was slightly confused as he watched Naruto getting chased by a small toad continuously getting beat on the head with a stick.

_Hhm, just what I'd expect from the dobe._

Then he saw it, Naruto's eyes. They started to take on a toad-like look as what looked like yellow eye-liner seemed to surround them. As soon as this happened, the grin that was on his former teammate's face was replaced with a small frown.

"SHIT!" Sasuke gasped.

_FLASHBACK_

"_WHAT? That dobe beat Pain? How?" Sasuke all but yelled at Madara. How the hell could a deadlast like Naruto beat someone as powerful as Pain? Pain would even give HIM a run for his money. It just doesn't make sense that Naruto would be on the same level of power as Sasuke. Sasuke is an UCHIHA, Naruto is the dobe._

"_He mastered sage jutsu, like his teacher, Jiraiya. With sage jutsu he was able to beat all six of Pain's bodies before convincing Nagato to revive the people of Konoha."_

_Sasuke just stood there shocked, he couldn't think of anything to say. He didn't know much about this sage jutsu, but if it made Naruto strong enough to defeat Pain then it had to be a very powerful jutsu._

"_Since you're eventually going to be fighting the Kyubi Jinchuriki I think it would be good for you to know just what sage jutsu is, and what a sage is capable of." Madara continued, snapping Sasuke out of his shock._

"_A sage can take in the nature chakra surrounding them and blend it with their own chakra giving them greatly-increased strength and access to very powerful senjutsu. And since a sage is so in tune with nature, when they are in sage mode they are unrivaled in their abilities to sense the chakras of not just ninjas, but ordinary civilians as well."_

_FLASH IN_

Sasuke swore to himself as he masked his chakra presence so it was non-existent to the outside world. He couldn't have Naruto discovering him yet…

* * *

Tsunda Senju, the Gondaime Hokage, stared longingly out the window wishing she could be out there on this beautiful day instead of being stuck inside her office doing paperwork. Paperwork… bane of all Hokages. Really, whoever invented paperwork was obviously an undercover assassin who put paperwork in place hoping that the Hokages would off themselves in frustration of the never-ending stream…

"Baa-chan." came the greeting of an oddly quiet Naruto as he leapt into her office through the window.

_Hah, now he's using the window just like Jiraiya. Like master like apprentice I suppose._ Tsunade mused with a small smile on her face. She quickly erased her smile, shinobi were supposed to enter the Hokage's office AFTER knocking on the door. They couldn't just come and go as they please through her window!

"NARUTO! Use the door!" she tried to say in a voice she hoped sounded annoyed and threatening.

"Sorry Baa-chan. But this is important. Earlier I was working on improving my sage mode with geezer sage, and as I began to enter sage mode, I sensed Sasuke's chakra signature, but it quickly disappeared. After I was done training I entered sage mode completely but I couldn't find him anywhere near Konoha. I don't think he would be able to mask his chakra well enough to escape detection from me in sage mode, so for now I think it's safe to assume he was briefly in Konoha."

"This is troubling news. Very well, I shall inform Anbu and have them search for any sign that Sasuke was in Konoha. "ANBU!" Tsunade barked out. Instantly a woman in an Anbu uniform with a cat mask appeared out of nowhere.

"Hai Hokage-sama?"

"We have reason to believe that Sasuke Uchiha was recently in Konoha, you are to search for any signs or clues that confirm this. DISMISSED!"

"Hai Hokage-sama!" and with that, the cat-masked Anbu disappeared.

"Oh by the way Naruto," the Hokage said with a smirk on her face. "It's almost Sakura's lunch break, you should go eat lunch with her while you're here."

"Err… hai Baa-chan. Thanks for the info." Naruto responded as a blush adorned his cheeks and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

* * *

_Should I tell Sakura-chan about Sasuke?_ Naruto asked himself, walking down the hallways connecting the Hokage tower to the hospital. _Maybe I should, but if this all turns out to be nothing then I would just be getting her hopes up for no apparent reason. No, I'll wait until the Anbu investigation is over._

"Hey Ino, do you know where Sakura is?" Naruto asked as the blonde bombshell came into view.

Ino's lips turned upwards into a smirk, "Oh Naruto! Sure, just head down the hall there, first door on your left. She's using an empty room to get caught up on some paperwork.

The jinchuriki did not miss Ino's smirk. _First Sakura-chan's really nice to me, then the dreams, then today Baa-chan had a smirk when she told me to get lunch with Sakura, and now Ino's smirking. Things are looking good for Naruto Uzumaki, BELIEVE IT!_

"Ummm…. Naruto? What are you doing?" asked his favorite kunoichi as sweat dropped down her pink-haired head.

_CRAP! I really do hang out with Bushy Brows too much…_

_

* * *

_

Sakura just could not catch a break when it came to hospital work. After the hell that she miraculously survived that was yesterday, today she was met with mounds of paperwork that she didn't have time to get to while healing practically every damn shinobi in Konoha.

Perched on an unoccupied bed in an empty patient's room, she was trying to keep herself from screaming at the top of her lungs, pulling her hair out, lighting all of the paperwork on fire, then dancing around it while shouting "SHANAROO!" at the top of her lungs…

Hearing the door open, she turned her head and instantly her face lit up.

_Well my day just got a lot better!_ She thought with a smile on her face. That smile was replaced with an awkward one quickly though as a sweat drop fell down her pink-haired head.

"Ummm… Naruto? What are you doing?"

"Nani? OH!" Naruto quickly dropped out of his nice guy pose and threw his hands behind his head in his typical fashion. Sakura thought he looked so cute when he did that.

"Umm… hey Sakura-chan. I was just in the neighborhood and wondered if you wanted to get some lunch?"

_Yep, this day just got a lot better._ Sakura beamed. "Of course Naruto! But we're going to have to go to the hospital cafeteria, and you're not allowed to eat ramen!"

Sakura nearly busted out laughing as Naruto's face dropped. Smiling at him she saw the look of surprise on his whiskered face and felt him stiffen up as she looped her arm around his.

"Ok, fine. You can have ONE bowl of ramen and that's it. But you have to eat something healthy as well. You need to eat more than just ramen if you want to live a long full life!" she scolded. That did the trick, Naruto completely forgot about her looping their arms together.

"YOSH! YOU GOT IT SAKURA-CHAN!" he yelled at the top of his lungs with a huge grin plastered on his face.

"Damnit Naruto, this is a hospital. Keep your voice down." Sakura playfully scolded, with a smile that never left her face.

"Ne, sorry Sakura-chan…" Naruto mumbled.

"It's ok Naruto, to make up for it, you'll just have to pay for lunch!" she smiled as she placed a quick peck on his cheek.

Sakura had to steady her knucklehead a bit as he nearly fainted with a deep blush on his face.

_Hahaha, it's good to know that I can get that kind of reaction out of you with just a kiss on the cheek Naruto. I can't wait to see what happens when I can finally tell you the truth._

As Sakura led the pair to the cafeteria, it was impossible to miss the soft smile that graced her beautiful face.

* * *

"Nani? OH!"

_Damnit Bushy Brows! Now I'm striking up the nice guy pose for no reason around Sakura-chan! She might actually like me like I like her, now's not the time to be doing stupid poses for no apparent reason!_

As he gathered up the courage to ask Sakura to lunch, he absent-mindlessly put his hands behind his back as he often does.

"Umm… hey Sakura-chan. I was just in the neighborhood and wondered if you wanted to get some lunch?"

_Damnit! Very smooth Uzumaki…_ Naruto began preparing himself for a blow to the head, but instead had to use every ounce of willpower he had to keep the shock off his face when Sakura beamed at him.

"Of course Naruto!" Naruto was cockily laughing and giving the victory sign inside of his mind, he started to form a foxy grin. "But we're going to have to go to the hospital cafeteria, and you're not allowed to eat ramen!"

_NO RAMEN?_ Naruto knew he should be thrilled that Sakura-chan actually said yes to a "date" with him, but ramen was his second love next to Sakura.

_If I have to go without ramen to get a date with Sakura-chan, then no ramen it is._ Thought the jinchuriki sadly.

"Ok, fine. You can have ONE bowl of ramen and that's it. But you have to eat something healthy as well. You need to eat more than just ramen if you want to live a long full life!" Sakura scolded.

_YATTA! JUST ANOTHER ONE OF THE MANY REASONS I LOVE YOU SAKURA-CHAN! _The blonde just couldn't contain his excitement.

"YOSH! YOU GOT IT SAKURA-CHAN!" he screamed out as a huge grin took over his face.

"Damnit Naruto, this is a hospital. Keep your voice down." Sakura scolded him. Missing the smile that went along with her scolding, Naruto's head dropped a little.

_Damnit, I've already pissed her off… _

"Ne, sorry Sakura-chan…" he mumbled.

"It's ok Naruto. To make up for it, you'll just have to pay for lunch!" Naruto nearly feinted as he felt Sakura's soft lips place themselves upon his cheek.

_Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan just kissed… me?_

As he let Sakura lead him to the cafeteria it was impossible to miss the soft smile that graced his whiskered face.

* * *

Ino had a smile on her face as she watched Sakura and Naruto walk to the cafeteria arm in arm.

_It's about time forehead…_

_

* * *

_

Much to Naruto's chagrin, the hospital cafeteria was out of ramen, and even worse Sakura made him get a large salad just like the one she chose. Naruto slowly picked at the salad trying his best to imagine it was a bowl of miso-pork ramen…

Sakura on the other hand was happily eating her salad, albeit feeling a little guilty. While she told Naruto he could have one bowl of ramen, she only told him that because she didn't think the hospital cafeteria actually sold ramen.

Noticing the ramen upon entering the cafeteria, she thanked kami her knucklehead was horrible with genjutsu, and cast a quick genjutsu over him so he wouldn't see the ramen.

_Note to self, thank Kurenai-sensei later for the genjutsu training._

The lunch was a very pleasant one, the two sannin's apprentices told each other about their day. Naruto told Sakura about his sage training (leaving out the part where he briefly sensed Sasuke), and Sakura told him about the paperwork hell that had been her day.

"You should learn the kage-bunshin no jutsu Sakura-chan! Then you could fly through the paperwork. That's my plan when I become Hokage. My kage-bunshins are going to do all of the boring paper work while I go out and take all of the awesome missions protecting the village!" Naruto boasted.

"You baka! I doubt the elders will be happy with you using your kage-bunshins to do all of the paperwork, and you sure as hell won't be able to leave the village to go on dangerous missions!" Sakura scolded, smile still present on her face.

This time, Naruto caught the smile. "You're just jealous you didn't think of it first Sakura-chan!"

Sakura continued to softly smile at him. "Baka…"

Naruto returned the smile, "I'll teach you the kage-bunshin sometime Sakura-chan. BELIEVE IT!"

Sakura sweat-dropped. "Uh… Naruto?"

_Kuso!_ Naruto swore as he once again dropped out of the nice guy pose. _DAMNIT BUSHY BROWS!_

_

* * *

_

Sakura once again had her arm hooked around her blonde teammate's as they walked back to the room where all the dreaded paperwork was waiting for her. She really didn't want to get back to work, hanging out with Naruto seemed like a much better plan. But unfortunately she had responsibilities and all…

Naruto walked back into the room with her, and noticed her cringe upon the mountain of paperwork.

"Ne, Sakura-chan. Let me teach you how to do the kage-bunshin real quick. You don't have to use it, but it can't hurt to know how."

Sakura smiled at this, she loved when Naruto tried to use logic to get around her stubbornness. He wasn't exactly the best at it, but it was cute to see him try nonetheless.

"Form your hands into the cross seal like this… then build up your chakra and say, "Kage-Bunshin no-Jutsu!" a Naruto clone poofed into appearance.

"Oh hi Sakura-chaaaaan!" the clone called before being immediately dispelled by Naruto.

"Just be careful Sakura-chan, you don't have the chakra capacity to use kage bunshins in battle so don't make more than two, ok?"

"Hai Naruto" she smiled.

Naruto smiled at her and turned to walk out the door.

"Naruto?"

"Yes Sakura-chan?"

"I get off work in 5 hours, would you mind picking me up?"

"Of course Sakura-chan!"

A smiling Sakura wrapped her arms around the jinchuriki as she planted another quick peck on his cheek before returning to her paperwork.

Her smile only grew as she saw the giant foxy grin that was plastered on her knucklehead's face as he walked out of the room.

Once she was sure he was out of the room and out of earshot, she formed that familiar cross sign.

"Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu!" and two Sakura clones popped into existence, immediately starting on the paperwork mountain.

_Today isn't going to be such a bad day after all._

_

* * *

_

Konoha's number one ninja at surprising people was on cloud nine as he headed to the training grounds from the Konoha hospital.

_Sakura-chan kissed me… TWICE! Sure they were just kisses on the cheek, but still, TWICE! YATTA! And she kept her arm looped around mine while we walked! Dear Kami, thank you for those dreams you've been giving me this past month!_

Even though Naruto didn't get to eat ramen for lunch, Naruto Uzumaki would still remember it as the best lunch ever.

* * *

Four hours later an exhausted Naruto sat amongst more rasengan craters than he cared to count. He smiled,

_My new rasengan is almost complete. You won't expect this teme._

Looking at the time, the jinchuriki dragged himself up and ran off to his apartment so he could grab a shower before picking Sakura up from work.

* * *

_DAMNIT NARUTO_ cursed Sasuke Uchiha as he hid from more Anbus. He saw Naruto head to the training grounds again, and heard a lot of explosions. But thanks to the dobe, Anbu were out in force looking for him which prevented him from being able to stay in the same place for more than a couple of minutes.

* * *

"Hokage-sama!"

"Have you finished your investigation?" the Slug Sannin asked the Anbu in a cat mask.

"Hai! If Sasuke Uchiha was in Konoha he left no traces."

"Understood, dismissed."

Tsunade was a little surprised, she expected Anbu to find something. She trusted Naruto 100%, so if Naruto said that Uchiha brat was in Konoha, then that Uchiha brat was surely in Konoha. The fact that there was no trace of him worried her.

_Why do I get the feeling that something bad is going to happen soon…_ The hokage grabbed the bridge of her nose as she leaned back in the chair before pulling out a bottle of sake.

_I'm probably going to need this…._

_

* * *

_

Even with the kage-bunshin's help, the paperwork mountain took up the rest of Sakura's day. While exhausted, she remembered that her knucklehead was waiting to pick her up and walk her home.

_What a great day today is._

Her exhausted features lit up into a smile as she spotted the spiky blonde hair and the vibrant sapphire eyes of her love. She immediately hooked her arm around his and let her weariness show as she leaned into him.

"Long day, eh Sakura-chan?" he chuckled.

"Yea, but it's all better now." she smiled, which in turn caused the jinchuriki to smile as well.

As the two walked the streets toward her apartment, Naruto gushed about his new rasengan.

"It's so great Sakura-chan! It's not as powerful as my futon rasen-shuriken, but I can use this one when I'm not in sage mode without hurting myself. And it's still very powerful! Just wait till you see it, you're gonna be so impressed. BELIEVE IT!"

Sakura-sweat dropped. "Naruto, you gotta stop hanging out with Lee and Gai…"

Naruto sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he dropped his nice guy pose for the umpteenth time in the day.

"I think you're right Sakura-chan. Hehehe"

Arriving at Sakura's doorstep, the kunoichi did not want to leave her blonde just yet, and a plan formed in her head.

"Say Naruto?"

"Ya Sakura-chan?"

"It's still early, why don't you come in and wait for me to shower and get changed, then we can go catch a movie and maybe Ichiraku's after that?" (Sakura's guilt into tricking Naruto into not eating his favorite food had only grown as the day went on.)

"That sounds great Sakura-chan!" Naruto said as calmly as he could while doing back flips in celebration inside his mind.

Konoha's cherry blossom gave him a smile, "Great!"

As the two made their way into her apartment, Naruto plopped down on her couch and Sakura headed to her bathroom.

"Oh and Naruto?"

"Yes Sakura-chan?"

"If I get wind that you're even thinking about peeking on me while I'm in the shower, I'm going to pound you so hard you'll find yourself wishing you got hit by five futon rasenshurikens instead." she cooed with an overly sweet tone.

It was Naruto's turn to sweat drop.

"Yes Sakura-chan…" he squeaked out with a look of absolute terror on his face.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she felt the hot water splash her skin. Truth be told, she wouldn't mind Naruto peaking on her, if all goes well he would certainly be seeing her like this soon. But she just couldn't resist scaring the poor blonde, it was just too fun!

As the water took the stress of the day away from her body she started planning the rest of the night.

_I'm going to tell him tonight. I'm going to tell him that I actually do love him. But where? We could see a romantic movie, and I could wait till the climatic scene to kiss him and tell him. But that's not really Naruto's style._

_I should probably do it after the baka has stuffed himself full of Ichiraku's, that would probably make for the best memory for Naruto. He gets to stuff himself on ramen and the girl that he's been chasing for almost his entire life returns his feelings._

Sakura smiled,

_Today has been a good day, but tonight is going to be even better._

_

* * *

_

Happy could barely describe Naruto's mood as he sat on Sakura's soft maroon colored couch.

_This must be what heaven is like, this entire place smells exactly like Sakura-chan._

Sakura had been in the shower for a while. He WAS tempted to peek in on her, but it wasn't worth the beating that Sakura-chan promised him. Not that he would realistically want to take advantage of his favorite cherry blossom like that anyways.

_Besides, _Naruto's face set into a smile that was very similar to the lecherous smiles of his departed master, _with the way today has been going I might be seeing Sakura-chan like that sooner than later._

As Naruto laid his head on one of Sakura's pillows, it struck him how exhausted he was from training earlier. His exhaustion coupled with Sakura's amazing scent that was infiltrating his nose from the pillow lulled him to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Sakura was a little surprised and slightly disappointed when Naruto made no attempts to peak on her while she showered. She took an extra long shower to give him more time to act. Walking out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel she sashayed near the couch and smiled at the sight.

Her knucklehead had fallen asleep on with the cutest smile on his face. She smiled and absent mindedly ran her fingers through his spiky hair. She wanted to wake him up, but the movie she wanted to see didn't start for another 50 minutes anyway, and she only lived five minutes away from the movie theater.

She couldn't resist. She kissed him softly on his forehead as she placed a hand on his head, then whispered in his ear, "Yume-no Sakura Jutsu." his smile only grew as he continued to sleep.

After getting changed into her room, Sakura came out in a fresh change of her regular attire (afterall, Naruto was still in his same jumpsuit, she didn't want to out dress him), she returned to the couch and laid Naruto's head in her lap as she stroked his hair.

* * *

_Naruto's head lay in Sakura's lap, as she ran her fingers through his hair smiling down at him._ _He was entranced by her beautiful emerald eyes. As he continued to stare, Naruto decided that Sakura was officially an angel sent down to Earth. That was the only way to explain her beauty._

"_I love you Naruto." she smiled at him._

"_I love you too Sakura-chan." He returned with the most genuine smile he had ever used._

_

* * *

_

As Naruto came to, he felt his head on something soft, and someone was running their fingers through his hair. When he opened his eyes, he gasped.

_This is just like the dream I was just having!_

"So… beautiful" the words slipped from his mouth before he woke up enough to realize what was going on.

Sakura giggled. "Thanks Naruto, you're pretty handsome yourself. Now get up, the movie starts in ten minutes! You don't want to be late to our first date do you?"

As Naruto heard the words leave her angelic mouth he had to fight back tears of joy.

"No way Sakura-chan! Let's go!"

And with that, the happy couple headed out on their first official date.

Neither would ever see the cruel smirk that passed across the lips from of their former teammate.

_This is perfect._ All three original members of Team 7 thought at the same time.

* * *

Whew, 5,232 words and 14 pages! Now that's more like it! I hope you enjoyed the fluffy cute happy NaruSaku because an angst storm is a brewin' the next chapter. If you're wondering how Sasuke was able to spy on Naruto and Sakura, the Anbu investigation is already off. Every single Anbu in Konoha took part in it for a good 5 hours or so, which would help speed the process along.

I probably won't be able to get another update until sometime next week, but in case you haven't figured it out yet, SPOILER ALERT, the reason behind this story's title is about to become apparent in the next chapter.


	3. Broken

Well here we are again. This chapter definitely flew by much quicker than I anticipated. There's more happy NaruSaku than I originally planned on in this chapter, so be happy for that. However the angst is definitely coming, my apologies. Anywho, I should probably stop rambling and let you get along on your merry way.

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows.

Shout out to my reviewers since I posted the last chapter: Lionmate, holydemon90, Serenity Namikazi, mIYaOftHeSaND, cmcwiki, alphashadow 425

Alphashadow 425: I don't know... That Orichimaru was pretty smart guy. We'll just have to wait and see if boiling the potion actually had any effects. Seeing how much of a genius Orichimaru is, I would be shocked if his potion didn't get the job done just because it was boiled though...

cmcwiki: the moment of truth! There's a lot more fluff than I planned on in this one, so hopefully it offsets the angsty sadness a bit for you =P

Serenity Namikaze: seriously, why did Kishimoto just suddenly ignore Sakura's genjutsu talents? WTF! Maybe if I send him an EXTRA nice email we'll see the yume-no sakura jutsu used in the mangas =P If only... And no worries, Naruto isn't going to be striking the nice guy pose for a LONG time at the very least

holydemon90: hahahaha, yes I know, I'm cruel. But no worries, I like happy endings so the angsty sad stuff will all be worth it... sorta... in the end =)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would've been able to learn Raikiri from Kakishi and would eventually teach Sakura the rasengan (oh, and Sakura would miraculously have enough chakra to even use the rasengan…)

Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"- Chapter 3: Broken

* * *

Naruto was quite possibly the happiest he had ever been. He was on his way to a movie with Sakura Haruno, the woman of his dreams… no, the angel of his dreams. Not very many people believe in love at first site, but the blonde jinchuriki would gladly offer himself up as an example.

_FLASHBACK_

_A young Naruto clad in an orange and blue jumpsuit with a pair of green goggles on his head strode into the academy classroom. It was his first day of class and he was ready to become a ninja and prove to everyone that he wasn't some piece of trash._

_He expected to receive glares and insults in the academy, why should things be any different in the academy then they were in the rest of Konoha after all? Although in here, he was at a distinct disadvantage. On the streets he could run when the adults yelled at him or beat him, but here in the academy he couldn't run. He had to stay for the entire class. _

_That thought gave Naruto an uneasy feeling as he took a seat in the back of the classroom. Much to his surprise the boy he sat next to did nothing. He was obviously aware of Naruto's presence next to him, but didn't seem to care. He just continued to sit there with his head down._

_Naruto continued to take in the classroom when his eyes fell upon a magnificent sight. There in the front row of the room, sat a beautiful girl with porcelain skin, shining emerald eyes, and vibrant pink hair. She was wearing a red dress with a red ribbon tied in her hair._

"…_Beautiful." Naruto mumbled._

"_Huh?" the boy next to him sat up a little. He followed Naruto's eyes then gave an exasperated sigh. "Troublesome." and put his head back down._

_Naruto barely noticed as he was too transfixed on the emerald-eyed angel. She was talking to a blue-eyed, blonde-haired friend clad in all purple, although for some reason things seemed to be a little heated between the two. _

_The emerald-eyed angel and her blonde-haired friend quickly shut up as a raven haired boy with a look of indifference plastered on his face entered the classroom. He wore a blue shirt with some sort of strange ball and fan symbol on the back and a pair of white shorts._

_The two girls instantly greeted him with coos of "Sasuke-kuuuuuuuuun!" and got up from their seats to surround him. The gloomy looking boy instantly scowled and ignored them. Naruto curled his fist into a ball… how dare that kid ignore the beautiful emerald-eyed angel, Naruto could see the hurt look on her face even though she tried to hide it._

"_Ne, what's your name?" he asked the boy next to him._

"_Shikamaru Nara." Naruto was surprised he got a name out of someone so easily without getting beat or jeered at. Shaking off his surprise, he hoped Shikamaru actually knew who people were in their class. None of the adults in Konoha would ever let their children play with Naruto, so each one of his classmates was essentially a stranger, although he slightly recognized most of them._

"_Who's that teme down there surrounded by those two girls?" Naruto said pointing down to the dark-haired boy that was currently ignoring the emerald-eyed angel._

"_That's Sasuke Uchiha and that girl with pink hair that you seem to be so fascinated with is Sakura Haruno" Shikamaru smirked._

"_Nani? I didn't say anything about her, who said I'm fascinated?"_

_The lazy boy's smirk just grew bigger, "Please, if you're going to try to play that card try not staring at her like she's the most beautiful thing to ever grace this Earth and stop balling up your first and glaring at Sasuke just because he's ignoring her."_

_That was when Naruto discovered that Shikamaru was an insanely observant genius._

"_So what's the deal with those three?" _

"_The other girl there is Sakura's former best friend, but now rival, Ino Yamanka, and those two are only two of the vast horde of Sasuke's fan girls. For some reason all the girls in our class think Sasuke is the best thing since sliced bread since he's so dark and brooding. It doesn't make much sense to me, not that I care. Girls are far too troublesome anyways."_

_Naruto just nodded as he took in Shikamaru's words, as he turned to ask Shikamaru another question he found the Nara boy had put his head back down and took it as a sign that Shikamaru was done talking for a while._

_

* * *

_

_As Naruto walked through the cafeteria with his first ever academy lunch (YOSH!) he spotted the girl he wanted to see. Taking a deep breath, he walked up to the pink-haired beauty, but stopped as soon as he saw who she was talking to._

"_Sasuke-kuuun" she cooed as she batted her eyelashes, "Would you like to get dinner with me after school is over? I know a great new dango shop that opened up and I'm sure you'll love it! It'll even be my treat!"_

"_No"_

"_Oh, come on Sasuke-kuuun. You don't have to be so shy with me."_

"_I'm not being shy, I just don't want to go to dinner with you."_

"_Oh… ok, sorry." a dejected Sakura said as she began to stand get up from the table. Seeing the look of sadness on Sakura's face removed all logical thoughts from Naruto's mind. He dropped his tray._

"_HEY TEME! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"_

_A stunned Sasuke looked up to see a fuming boy with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Sakura stood rooted where she was in shock._

"_And who are you?" the Uchiha spat, obviously annoyed with the blue-eyed blonde in his face._

"_NARUTO UZUMAKI. REMEMBER MY NAME, I'M GOING TO BE HOKAGE ONE DAY. BELIEVE IT!" Naruto's face was pulled up in an impossibly large grin before he quickly returned it to a scowl._

"_You shouldn't be so mean to Sakura-chan!" _

_This snapped Sakura out of her shock and a feeling of anger slowly started to build in her. Here's a boy she never met, referring to her as Sakura-__**CHAN**__, and embarrassing her in front of Sasuke-kun. _

_Unfortunately for Naruto, he didn't notice this._

"_I don't know who you are Uzumaki, but what I do is my own business. Sakura is just another annoying girl who won't leave me alone. Now if you don't get out of my face I'm going to show you why I'm the top of our class."_

"_That a threat teme? I'm the future Hokage, don't think you can…"_

_WHAM._

"_LEAVE SASUKE-KUN ALONE. I DON'T KNOW YOU, SO DON'T GET INVOLVED IN MATTERS THAT DON'T CONCERN YOU!" a white-eyed Sakura fumed._

_Naruto was on the ground in an awkward heap with a slight smile. Sakura no longer had that dejected look on her face. Her hit definitely hurt, but at least she wasn't sad anymore._

_He smiled and muttered under his breath softly enough so no one can hear, "So this is love."_

_FLASH IN_

Naruto chuckled to himself as he remembered that memory, earning him a quizzical glance from the "emerald-eyed angel" who currently had her arm looped around his.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Nothing Sakura-chan, nothing at all." He continued to chuckle a little to himself. "I just saw something that reminded me of one of my fonder memories. That's all."

The pink-haired kunoichi seemed to accept this, as she just nodded and leaned back into him.

* * *

There was absolutely nothing in the world that could wipe the grin off of Sakura's face. She happily leaned into Naruto with her arm looped around his. Tonight was it, she could finally confess to her knucklehead. Hopefully instead of casting her yume-no sakura jutsu tonight, she could just wrap her arms around him instead.

She couldn't believe that two months had already passed since her meeting with Tsunada-shishou after they returned from the Iron Country and their confrontation with Sasuke…

_FLASHBACK_

"_SAKURA! Your friends have already debriefed me on EVERYTHING that happened. I can understand wanting to shield Naruto from the burden of killing Sasuke and saving Sasuke from plunging any further into darkness, but why would you tell Naruto you loved him? You know he loves you, that was cruel." a disapproving scowl was fixed on the Hokage's face and her hazel eyes looked as if they were cutting a hole through Sakura's very soul._

"_Shishou… it's not like that! I don't care about Sasuke like that anymore. I didn't want to save him from falling any further into the darkness, I guess that's a nice added perk, but mainly I wanted to protect Naruto. He's done so much for me, he doesn't deserve to shoulder the guilt of killing his best friend. I don't want that to happen to him." Sakura said with a surprisingly calm and confident voice._

"_As to why I told him I love him? Well… it's because it's the truth. I admit, I chose to tell him when I did to try to get him to stop chasing Sasuke, but I do love him. I'm not exactly sure how or when it happened, I just know it happened and I'm glad it did!" she pumped her fist into the air to emphasize this point._

"_Naruto's always been there for me, he's always put me before him. He's always accepted me for who I am and not once has his faith in me wavered. I know that he would do anything for me, and damnit, I would do anything for him!" Sakura proclaimed as tears began falling from her eyes._

"_But I screwed it up, as I usually do. He didn't believe a word I said, he just assumed I was lying to myself. And then that idiot Sai told him that I just told him that to get him to stop chasing Sasuke! Shishou, I don't know what to do now. He's stubborn and he doesn't really believe he can beat Sasuke to win my heart." Sakura was sobbing at this point, arms wrapped around herself._

_Tsunade sat there in shock as she looked into the tear-filled emerald eyes of her apprentice. Sakura really meant it. Her lips turned upwards into a big smile. She loved Naruto like a son, and she knew how much he loved Sakura. She was glad to know that her apprentice loved him back and her favorite gaki would be able to find true happiness. Before that could happen though, she needed to give her apprentice a small push in the right direction._

"_Don't worry Sakura, I have a plan. Your excellent chakra control makes you a natural at genjutsu, and I know that you received genjutsu training from Kurenai." Her apprentice's tears slowed, as she looked into Tsunade's eyes wondering where her master was going with this._

"_Now what do we know about everyone's favorite blonde knucklehead?"_

_Sakura looked at her master confused, they knew a lot about Naruto. He was brave, caring, determined, loves ramen…_

"_He's terrible at genjutsu. That gaki can never figure out if he's in a genjutsu unless it's blatantly obvious." _

_Sakura was still confused, but nodded her head._

"_Now, we know that Naruto is stubborn. So we need to break down that wall. You know as well as I do if you try to act all lovey dovey with him now he will assume you're just trying to manipulate him. So we need to wear down his defenses in his dreams."_

"_In…his dreams?" Sakura's mind was slowly getting on the same page as the blonde Hokage's._

"_Exactly, I don't know of any genjutsus that can alter dreams subtly, but I didn't know of any jutsus that could attack the body on a molecular level with countless tiny wind blades either." Tsunade winked._

"_I get it! So just as Naruto created the futon rasenshuriken, I need to create my own genjutsu to cast on Naruto when he sleeps. Thanks so much shishou!"_

_The Gondaime Hokage smiled warmly at her apprentice as the pink-haired girl turned and ran out the door, a new fire lit within her._

Sakura smiled as she thought about that month. After consulting with Kurenia-sensei and a couple of sleepless nights, she decided she would create a genjutsu that would cause Naruto to dream of her and him together. At the end of that month, she had finally completed the yume no-sakura jutsu, a genjutsu that was to be used on Naruto, and Naruto alone.

She smiled and pressed further into her knucklehead, loving the warmth he radiated. After a month of using her genjutsu, she was finally here. Arm in arm, headed off on her first real date with the baka.

_The lack of sleep I've gotten these past two months has all been totally worth it._

_

* * *

_

The sannins' apprentices walked into the movie theater, deciding on seeing a new chick-flick that Sakura wanted to see. Naruto honestly could care less what movie they saw, just as long as he was watching it with Sakura. The Gondaime's apprentice tried to pay for the movie tickets, but the Yondaime's legacy would have none of it.

Sakura grabbed ahold of Naruto's hand as soon as they sat down and rested her head on his shoulder; the two quietly sat together in a pleasant silence as they waited for the movie to start. Both just enjoying the others' company.

The movie itself was something Naruto would never actually watch if left to his own devices. Some strange man with a strange accent and kind of bad teeth (for the lead guy in a chick flick!) was best friends with the woman he loved. However, this man didn't want to be tied down, so never acknowledged his feelings.

Then the man's world started to crumble down as the woman he loved got engaged to an overly charming, handsome and extremely wealthy man. Suddenly the man could not get his best friend off his mind, and when asked by her best friend's fiancé to be a groomsman, the man said yes in a numb tone.

As the movie progressed, the man and some of his friends devised a scheme that would surely win his best friend's heart. Then tragically, the man was convinced that the woman truly loved her fiancé (Sakura was bawling her eyes out by this point), and didn't go through with his plan.

At the wedding just before the man's best friend said I do, the man couldn't take it anymore and interrupted the wedding saying that he couldn't let her get married to another man. He told his best friend that he loved her, he always has, and always will. The two shared a passionate kiss as miraculously, his best friend's (now former) fiancé just sat there with a sad smile on his face.

At this point Sakura leaned up and gave Naruto a long kiss on the cheek as tears continued fall down her pretty face.

While Naruto may not have enjoyed the movie all that much, after having his emerald-eyed angel rest her head on his shoulder, tightly grasp his hand, and kiss him on the cheek, this movie was now the jinchuriki's favorite movie ever.

"That movie was beautiful" swooned Sakura as she once again held tightly onto the future Hokage's arm.

"Hehe, it sure was Sakura-chan." Naruto mumbled in a tone of voice that said, _I didn't really care too much about the movie._

Sakura giggled at her knucklehead's antics. "That movie kinda reminded me of us Naruto." she smiled staring into his face lovingly.

_Us? Did Sakura-chan just say us? YATTA! YATTA! YATTA!_

"Hehe, yea except I never tried to hide my feelings for you Sakura-chan." Naruto chuckled, too nervous to look into her beautiful emerald eyes.

He was a little surprised when the girl leaning into him suddenly busted into laughter.

"Hahahahaha, no you didn't Naruto. You certainly didn't."

Emerald eyes met blue, and a matching pair of soft smiles was fit upon the apprentices of the sannins.

* * *

Sasuke watched as Naruto exited the movie theater. A small part of him, a VERY small part of him mind you, was slightly happy that Naruto and Sakura were finally getting together, and felt kind of bad for what he was about to do.

He wasn't overly surprised that Sakura ended falling for Naruto, but he was a little surprised as he thought of that night. The night when he left Konoha.

_FLASH BACK_

_Sasuke walked down the path leading out of Konoha with a backpack on his back. The time had come to leave Konoha behind. He would miss his team and would cherish the memories he made in Konoha, but he needed more power to beat Itachi. And he just wasn't going to be getting that in Konoha._

_He shuddered as he thought of where he was going. Orichimaru was creepy, he didn't trust the snake sannin as far as he could throw him. But Sasuke was too weak, he needed to be stronger to get his vengeance._

_As he neared the gate, his number one fan girl, and teammate came out from behind a tree, a sad look fixed in her eyes._

"_Why are you hanging around in a place like this in the middle of the night?" he asked, already knowing the answer._

_Sakura's face fell even further into sadness, "One has to pass down this road to leave the village…"_

_The "last" Uchiha went to walk around the pink-haired kunoichi. "Go home and sleep."_

_Tears streamed down his teammate's face. "Why… why won't you tell me anthing? Why are you always silent like that? You won't tell me one single thing…"_

"_Why should I have to tell you anything?" he interrupted her with a harsh tone. Sakura couldn't follow him, this path was not meant for her. And Sasuke knew no better way to keep someone away than being harsh and cold._

"_I'm telling you to keep your nose out of my business. Stop bothering me over everything I do." he didn't bother looking over his shoulder at her, he couldn't. He would not allow his teammate to follow him._

"_I…make you dislike me all the time don't I?" from the tone of her voice the raven-haired Uchiha could tell Sakura now had a sad smile on her face._

"_Do you remember? We just became genin and the three man squads were assigned… You and I were alone for the first time at this very spot. You got mad at me…"_

_Sasuke vaguely remembered when Sakura ripped on Naruto for not having parents, while that may have pissed him off, he didn't let it show anymore than he normally does. He just told her she was annoying. Confused why Sakura would mention this memory the avenger decided it was a better idea to just play dumb._

"_I don't remember that."_

"_Yeah I guess… that was a long time ago after all…" Sakura said as she tried to keep her voice upbeat._

"_But it all began that day. Sasuke and me. And also Naruto and Kakashi-sensei._

_Memories of his time with Team 7 flashed through his mind, but Sasuke couldn't let these deter him from his path. He had to avenge his clan, he needed power. He had to leave._

"_The four of us went on various missions, didn't we?" his female teammate continued. Those were tough and difficult times, but…but… more than anything… it was so much fun! I know about your family Sasuke… But revenge…that won't bring anyone happiness. No one… neither you…nor I."_

_Sasuke mentally sighed. Sakura never did see him for who he really was. Sasuke had always been an avenger, not some sweet and caring guy with a cold exterior. Sasuke Uchiha lived solely for revenge. And that's all there would ever be to it. He had to make her see, she needed to give up on him for her own sake._

"_As I expected… I'm different from you guys. I'm walking a road that's incompatible with the rest of you. The four of us worked together… and it's true that there were times when I thought that was my road. The four of us have worked together, but in the end, I decided on revenge. That's been my reason for living. I can't become like you and Naruto…"_

"_Are you going to isolate yourself again Sasuke? You taught me that solitude is a very rough thing that time Sasuke! Now I know exactly how that feels. I have both family and friends… But if you were no longer here, Sasuke… for me… for me it would be the same as solitude…"_

_Sakura was pouring her heart out to him… but he only saw her as a friend, nothing more. He appreciated how highly she thought of him, and both she and the rest of Team 7 helped save him from his solitude. But that was not his destiny. An avenger's destiny is a lonely road, and he refused to let her follow._

"_From here again… we're going to start walking our new paths individually."_

"_I… love you so very much Sasuke!" a river of tears were trickling down her face now. "I won't let you regret it, no matter what! I'll make it fun everyday and you'll definitely find happiness! I'll do anything for you, Sasuke! So… I'm begging you, please stay here! I'll even help you with your revenge! I'll make it happen somehow, I promise you… So stay here… with me…! If that doesn't work for you… Then take me with you…"_

_He turned around and fixed with her a rare version of what he would call a smile, "You really are… annoying." He began walking towards the gate._

"_DON'T GO!" Sakura yelled as she ran towards him. "If you go, I'll scream and…"_

_Sasuke disappeared and reappeared right behind the kunoichi. "Sakura…Thank you." He hit her on the back of the head knocking her out, catching her before she could hit the ground. He carried her to the nearby bench and laid her down._

"_Don't worry Sakura, you won't be alone. That's not your destiny."_

_And with that, Sasuke Uchiha abandoned Konoha._

_FLASH IN_

_You've come a long way since then Sakura, I knew you wouldn't be alone._ Sasuke thought as he stared at the couple below him. Guilt began to seep into his mind as he thought about what he was going to do.

He shook his head. _No, I can't think like that. They are both citizens of Konoha, the village that destroyed my clan. I need to be strong, I need to break Naruto so I can wipe Konoha off the face of the Earth…_

The avenger smirked. _Now Naruto, now is when I break you. Now I take my first real step towards Konoha's destruction._

Now all he had to do was wait for the perfect moment.

* * *

As Sakura and Naruto neared Ichiraku's, they saw three Anbu standing just outside the entrance.

"Ne, what's going on?" Naruto asked the Anbu in the cat mask.

"Lady Hokage has rented out Ichiraku's tonight for herself. No one else but Lady Hokage and Ichiraku's staff may enter."

"NANI?" Naruto's yell could be heard all the way in Suna.

* * *

"NANI?" Tsunade smirked as she heard Naruto's yell. As he began arguing with the Anbu she took another sip of sake.

_Dumb brat, I'm not going to let you take Sakura to Ichiraku's for your first date._

She chuckled a little bit as she heard words coming from Naruto that would make the most evil criminals blush.

_You'll thank this me for this later gaki._

_

* * *

_

After the "civilized discussion," as Naruto put it, failed with the Anbu, Sakura led her knucklehead to her favorite dumpling stand all the while he grumbled about the evil old hag who was out to ruin his life.

"I know you won't like this as much as ramen, but I promise you you'll like it!" she stared directly into his sapphire eyes and flashed another smile. This put his grumblings to a halt as he matched her smile with his own.

"As usual you were right Sakura-chan! These dumplings are great!" Naruto beamed as he stuffed yet another dumpling into his mouth.

_That boy's stomach is something else. I have no idea where he puts it all! _Sakura mused as she continued to smile.

"Well of course! You don't think I would bring you to a restaurant if I knew you wouldn't like the food would you?"

Naruto didn't quite know how to respond, so he just leaned into her instead.

_I can't believe how good this night has been! This is straight out of one of my dreams. Sakura-chan… she really loves me. I've finally won the girl. _Naruto's smile softened as he looked at his pink-haired teammate. _This has truly been a great night._

_

* * *

_

The two were arm in arm again as they left the dumpling stand and headed to her house.

_Well… it's now or never._ She thought gathering all the courage and confidence she could muster. There was really no reason to be so nervous, she knew Naruto loved her. He always had, even though she treated him like absolute garbage when they were younger, he never gave up hope. He continued to love her. She smiled.

_Time to give you a memory you will never forget Naruto._

Naruto, I… There's something I need to tell you. I've been wanting to say this for a while now… It's finally time to tell you the truth."

Naruto turned to look straight into her eyes, his attention was fully hers.

_OK! Here we go!_

_

* * *

_

"Naruto, I… There's something I need to tell you. I've been wanting to say this for a while now… It's finally time to tell you the truth." Naruto turned and looked straight into Sakura's eyes.

"_Soon, soon I'll be able to tell you the truth Naruto. Soon you won't have to suffer anymore." _

This was practically straight out of his dream. He couldn't believe this was actually happening, HIS Sakura-chan was finally going to return his feelings…

* * *

"Naruto, I… There's something I need to tell you. I've been wanting to say this for a while now… It's finally time to tell you the truth."

_There it is._ The "last" Uchiha smirked as he activated his sharingan.

"Now you break Naruto. Akutibu."

* * *

Sakura's mind suddenly went blank. For some reason the words she was about to say to Naruto just disappeared. Feelings of hate and disgust began bubbling up inside her. How dare this…demon look at her that way. She smirked an Uchiha smirk.

"The truth is Naruto, you annoy me. You utterly annoy me. I love Sasuke, not you. That's just the way it is."

Naruto's heart began to crumble. _At least… at least Sakura-chan cares enough to stop leading me on. She's helping me let go._ He tried to reason, saving his heart, if just a little.

"The only reason I pretended to be your friend was because I knew you would do anything for me. You were my own personal pet **demon**_**." **_Sakura made sure to put an extra emphasis on demon. "I figured a demon might be strong enough to bring my Sasuke-kun back to me."

Naruto's legs were shaking, his mind was blank, his heart was crumbling and falling to the ground.

"But you failed Naruto. You were a bad pet, you couldn't bring MY Sasuke back. Now you've decided that the two of you are going to kill each other the next time you fight. I could care less if you die, but I can't have you killing my Sasuke-kun Kyubi brat. So now I'm cutting you off. You failed me Naruto Uzumaki, you were just worthless demon scum in the end."

Naruto fell down onto his knees, tears streaming down his face. _This can't be happening… Sakura-chan would never say this… This has to be a nightmare… This….CAN'T…BE…REAL!"_

But then he remembered his sage training earlier, _Sasuke… He was in Konoha_. _Sakura-chan finally got together with Sasuke-teme and now she's dismissing me… damn it... DAMN IT...  
_

"I don't ever want to see you again dobe. Leave this village and NEVER return."

Naruto couldn't repress the scream of anguish that escaped his lips. His heart was nearly gone, there was just the smallest of slivers left. This could all still be some terrible nightmare.

"Oh don't give me that Uzumaki. You. Are. The. Kyubi. You are an evil and terrible demon who slaughtered thousands of innocent villagers. Don't even try to tell me you're not the Kyubi, because I know you are. This scar on my arm is proof of that. Naruto Uzumaki, a demon like you… doesn't deserve happiness. Demons like you only deserve misery. Now get out of my sight demon scum." Sakura spat.

The last sliver of Naruto's heart shattered and fell to the ground. Lifeless blue eyes stared into the emerald eyes of "his angel." The Kyubi jinchuriki's face was now completely impassive, devoid of all signs of life.

"Hai… gomensai Haruno-san for failing you. I apologize for wasting your time." came the monotone voice of the Yondaime's legacy.

Naruto pulled out a three pronged kunai, and leapt into the air throwing the kunai as far as he possibly could. He formed the handseals his father became famous for, and in a yellow flash, Naruto Uzumaki, Kyubi jinchuriki, legacy of the Yondaime, student of the great Toad Sannin Jiraiya, sage, hero of Konoha, and future Hokage, left Konoha… planning to never return.

* * *

A small part of Sasuke's heart ached, a VERY small part mind you. His former brother and best friend was now completely broken. Once his potion wore off, his other teammate would likely be broken as well when she realized just how badly she destroyed the man she loved.

He shook the thought from his head, and clenched his fist. _Those two are my enemies..._

_Now to take you to Akatsuki Naruto, then I shall destroy this accursed village. The Uchiha clan shall finally have its vengeance._

_

* * *

_

After Sakura watched Naruto disappear she began heading back home. Slowly the feelings of hatred and disgust began dissipating. She began replaying through the words she had just spat at the jinchuriki. She didn't mean any of that... Naruto wasn't a demon, he was her friend, he was the man she loved…

_OH GOD!_

Suddenly it all struck Sakura just what exactly she had done. She dropped to her knees, tears falling down her face like a waterfall,

_Why would I ever say those things to you? I love you Naruto… This doesn't make sense. I would never use you, I would never call you a demon._

"WHAT HAVE I DONE?" Sakura screamed.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" Team 7's jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake, was standing before her, hands on her shoulders with a concerned look in his one visible trying to figure out what was wrong with his only female student.

"Kakashi-sensei… I've… done a terrible thing," Sakura sobbed out. "Naruto… he left the village because of me… We need to notify Tsunade-shishou. She needs to save him."

Kakashi looked at Sakura in confusion, "There there Sakura, this is Naruto we're talking about. I'm sure he'll forgive you. Now tell me what you did." He tried to tell her in the most reassuring tone he had.

His pink-haired student just continued to sob uncontrollably. "There's no time sensei, we need to get to Tsunade-shishou now…."

Deciding he wasn't going to get any more answers out of the distraught kunoichi, Kakashi picked her up and headed off to the Hokage's office.

* * *

"_Naruto Uzumaki, a demon like you… doesn't deserve happiness. Demons like you only deserve misery." _

_She's right_ the jinchuriki thought into his numb mind. _I'm just a demon, why did I ever let myself believe I deserved happiness? I'm responsible for so many deaths. My destiny was set as soon as my father sealed the Kyubi inside me. My destiny is to be alone, and miserable until the day I die._

Naruto stared down at the three-pronged kunai that his father was so famous for, it fell from the sky after his initial throw from Konoha two hours ago. He placed his hand on his stomach, _dad knew I was meant to suffer. Thanks dad. I know that my suffering will bring joy to others. The people at Konoha will be celebrating now that the Kyubi brat is gone…_

He felt a familiar chakra signal, but didn't bother looking up.

"Sasuke…teme." he called out in his dead monotone voice.

"Dobe." Sasuke looked at his former teammate. He was really gone. The person in front of him was no longer the loud boy he grew up with. The man that stood before him was simply a husk of the jinchuriki. Naruto Uzumaki was gone.

"You're coming with me dobe. The Akaktsuki has wanted you for a long time."

Naruto merely nodded and wordlessly followed his former teammate. The jinchuriki's husk no longer cared about his life, he no longer cared about anything. He was now merely walking to the end of his life. No more, no less.

* * *

OH MAN, SO ANGSTY.

First off, I know I know, Naruto doesn't know Hirashin. But he needed it to realistically escape Konoha in this story. Naruto is now literally a husk of his former self. He no longer cares to employ any sort of stealth, so there's no way Anbu or the gate guards would let the jinchuriki march out the gate by himself without any notification from the Hokage. Meanwhile, with the Hirashin, Husk Naruto can get out of Sakura's site quicker and can realistically escape Konoha without using stealth. So we'll just assume that Minato told Naruto how to do it when chatting with him outside the Kyubi's seal.

Now that I got that out of the way, I would like to officially say, "Sorry, that hurt to write." You have no idea how tempted I was to suddenly type, "and then Sakura wrapped Naruto in a hug and said, "j/k, lolz. LUVVVVV U [insert anime happy face here]." But sadly this needed to be done for the purposes of this story. To make up for the excessive angst, I'm including a bonus mini-story that will hopefully make you chuckle a bit.

This mini story is going to show you how Sasuke found out about Kyubi Naruto attacking Sakura. I'm going to tell you now, Orichimaru, Kabuto, and Sasuke are all going to be VERY OOC. And if you are someone who likes Orichimaru and Kabuto, you probably won't enjoy this as I'm going to be implying that both are gay with each other. So… on to the amusing mini-story. This takes place directly after Naruto lets the Kyubi take control of him as he fought Orichimaru on the bridge.

* * *

"That damn Kyubi brat! He's much stronger than I expected" Orichimaru spat out.

Sasuke just smirked, "That's what you get for going after Naruto. I already told you, Naruto's mine."

"My my, so possessive aren't we Sasuke-kun. Got a little thing for the jinchuriki? I'm not overly surprised, seeing as how you ignored all those fan girls when you were in Konoha."

"SHUT UP DAMNIT, I JUST COULDN'T ALLOW MYSELF TO FALL IN LOVE. I'M AN AVENGER, AND AVENGERS CAN'T FEEL LOVE. JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T MAKE A MOVE DOESN'T MEAN I'M GAY."

"Keep telling yourself that Sasuke-kun. Remind me again… who did you share your first kiss with?"

"ARGH! THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT. HE WAS PUSHED INTO ME, I WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD WAY TOO MUCH TO REACT. IF YOU TRY SAYING I'M GAY ONE MORE TIME ORICHIMARU I WILL FIND A WAY TO ACTIVATE MY MANGYEKO SHARINGAN AND AMERATSU YOUR JUNK!"

This caused Orichimaru to sweat drop. An awkward silence fell over the two.

"So…" Orichimaru started, "Seen any good jutsus lately?"

Just before Sasuke responded, Kabuto suddenly appeared.

_Oh thank kami _both master and student thought at the same time.

"What's the news Kabuto? What happened with Naruto-kun?"

"As you know, once Naruto-kun sprouted his fourth tail he lost complete control. After you escaped, Tsunade's apprentice tried calming him down, but he attacked and injured her. As he started raging out of control, I escaped, but I do know that Tenzou managed to use the first's abilities to repress the Kyubi."

"Ah… I see. Very interesting." _Ah I can't resist…_ thought Orichimaru. "Are you jealous Sasuke-kun, that you weren't able to be there to comfort your Naruto-kun?" Orichimaru leered.

Sasuke snapped… again. "ARGH, I'M NOT GAY. WE USED TO BE BEST FRIENDS, THAT'S IT. AND WHY ARE YOU GIVING ME SO MUCH CRAP? I KNOW WHAT YOU DO TO KABUTO. YOU'RE THE GAY ONE HERE!"

"Ah Sasuke-kun, that is where you are mistaken. Kabuto is a woman." Orichimaru smiled.

"Nani? Orichimaru-sama, I'm not a woman. I'm quite obviously a man…"

Orichimaru gave Kabuto an ice-cold glare. "Are you questioning me Kabuto? If I say you're a woman, you're a woman. Don't make me kill you."

Sasuke sweat-dropped.

Kabuto gulped, "Hai… Orichimaru-sama. I'm sorry, you were right. I'm a woman."

"Good" Orichimaru sneered. "Now go get the karaoke machine, there's a song you need to sing, and plug it into the speakers of this hideout, I want everyone to hear this."

"Please… please Orichimaru-sama no. That song is humiliating…" Kabuto was interrupted as Orichimaru held kusanagi to his throat. "Hai… Orichimaru-sama."

Kabuto left the room and returned with a karaoke machine and a dejected look on his face.

"You know what song to sing Kabuto."

"Kabuto numbly nodded, and chose "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and began singing.

"_The best thing about being a woman, is the prerogative to have little fun! _

_Oh, oh, oh, go totally crazy-forget I'm a lady  
Men's shirts-short skirts  
Oh, oh, oh, really go wild-yeah, doin' it in style  
Oh, oh, oh, get in the action-feel the attraction  
Color my hair-do what I dare  
Oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free-yeah, to feel the way I feel  
Man! I feel like a woman!"_

As Kabuto's voice played across the speakers, all of Orichimaru's minions snickered, while Sasuke merely sighed and dropped his head.

_These crazy bastards are who I had to come to for power? Great choice Sasuske, great choice…_

_

* * *

_

Well, that mini-story amused me. I hope it brought you up a little bit after the extreme angst that was the end of chapter 3.

As always, I hope you enjoyed and reviews are appreciated.

I've been cranking this story out MUCH quicker than I originally thought (I figured it would take me around 3 weeks to get to this point..) But here I am. I can say with 100% certainty that I will not be able to start working on Chapter 4 this weekend, so don't expect to see it until next Wednesday-Thursday'ish.

/e turns DragonBall Z narrator voice on. Ahem…

"Next time on A Jinchuriki's Husk- Tsunade and the rest of the Konoha crew react to news of Naruto's disappearance and Sakura's actions. How will they react? Will they ever like Sakura again? Will we ever get to see Naruto's new rasengan that this crazed author was talking about in chapter 2? Will Goku ever finish that damn spirit bomb and kill Frieza? And if he does finish it, will that spirit bomb actually kill Frieza? Or will Frieza survive and piss this author off, because he just wasted his life by watching 10 episodes of Goku standing there with his hands in the air saying, "Please planet, universe, give me energy" only to have this super awesome attack do jack-shit? Well… that last bit won't be in the next chapter…. But you get the picture….

See you… eh…. What?

"YOSH! THIS IS MOST UNYOUTHFUL. YOU HAVE INCLUDED MY ETERNAL RIVAL KAKASHI IN YOUR STORY BUT NOT ME, THE YOUTHFUL MAITO GUY? I WILL DO ONE 100,000 FINGER PUSHUPS AND DO 100,000 LAPS AROUND KONOHA TO SHOW YOU MY POWER OF YOUTH!"

…Damnit Gai. Calm down, you and your overly youthful apprentice Lee are going to get some cameos in the next chapter. Along with the rest of the Rookie 9 and your team. Sheeeesh. I just need to figure out how to write all of their characters.

"YOSH, THE POWER OF YOUTH PREVAILS!"

….*sigh* See you next chapter….

"GAI SENSEI"  
"LEE"

"GAI SENSEI!"

*sweat drop*


	4. Rage

Finally! Chapter 4.

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks everyone who has reviewed thus far. They really help to keep me motivated to keep going!

Shout out to my reviewers since I posted the last chapter: Echo Uchiha, cmcwiki, Alphashadow 425, maliousdei, Toasty Warrior, mIYaOftHeSaND, Lavoisiae

cmcwiki: =P Cheers to that. Damn Sasuke ruining all the fun!

Alphashadow 425: Hehe. I'm eventually going to need Sakura shows Sasuke what happens to people who hurt her man, so the potion had to be a one and done kind of deal [insert Sakura with an evil grin cracking her knuckles here]

maliousdei: I like happy endings. Things will eventually get better for those two =)

Toasty Warrior: I would assume it's only a matter of time. This is Naruto afterall, that kid is beyond head over heels for the girl!

Lavoisiae: You are more than welcome to make a spin off, I don't mind!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would be loved by each and every villager in Konoha since the day he was born and Shikamaru would have a jutsu that makes the enemy suddenly not care, give up and walk away.

Ok, enough rambling. Onto the show!

Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"– Chapter 4: Rage

* * *

Kakashi Hatake, the legendary copy ninja, leapt from rooftop to rooftop as he carried his hysterical pink-haired student in his arms. He had been surprised when Sakura refused to move and so willingly let him carry her. Usually the kunoichi would be far too proud saying something like, "She doesn't need carried, she trained under the legendary sannin Tsunade, she can take care of herself!"

And yet here his normally proud student was, in his arms, her face in his chest, bawling her emerald eyes out. Try as he might, he was unable to get any further details out of her. Whatever happened had to be really bad to leave her in this state.

While Kakashi's face may have shown one of complete calm, underneath Kakashi was very worried. He needed to figure out what hurt his students and what he could do about it, and fast. As the Hokage Tower came into view, Kakashi pushed chakra into his legs to speed up.

_What happened Sakura..._

_

* * *

_

"_Oh don't give me that Uzumaki. You. Are. The. Kyubi. You are an evil and terrible demon who slaughtered thousands of innocent villagers."_

"Dobe!"

"_Don't even try to tell me you're not the Kyubi, because I know you are. This scar on my arm is proof of that."_

"Naruto!"

"_Naruto Uzumaki, a demon like you… doesn't deserve happiness. Demons like you only deserve misery. Now get out of my sight demon scum."_

"DOBE!" a rock bouncing off the blonde haired boy's head brought the jichuriki back to reality. His lifeless eyes fell upon the annoyed face of his "brother" and "best friend." Not too long ago Naruto Uzumaki would be yelling at Sasuke, telling him he's going to drag him back to Konoha one way or the other.

But not anymore, that Naruto was gone. The Naruto who's dead blue eyes staired at the Uchiha was a husk of his former self. Completely devoid of emotion, save misery, because that's what he deserved after all.

"We're crossing the river here, the current is pretty bad so don't fall in. I don't want to have to jump in to save you." the Uchiha smirked, hoping to get some sort of reaction from his former friend.

But the husk of the jinchuriki continued to stare impassively at him, not reacting in the slightest. Sakura's words, her true feelings towards him, continued to replay in his head.

In the very back of his mind, there was a small voice screaming that something was wrong. If Sakura was really now with Sasuke, why was she not here with them taking him to the Akatsuki? Was Sakura really the type of person who would just use someone like they were some piece of trash? Something had to have happened to her…

But the husk couldn't hear that voice, only the cold words of the woman he loved, the woman he dedicated his very life and soul to, rang through his mind.

"_A demon like you… doesn't deserve happiness. Demons like you only deserve misery."_

And so Naruto continued to replay those words, allowing the misery that he deserved to completely consume him. And he desperately waited for when he would finally reach the end of the long, weary path that had been his life…

* * *

Tsunade was halfway through her fifth bottle of sake as Kakashi burst through her door with her apprentice sobbing hysterically in his arms. She cursed herself for drinking too much as she tried to stand up and wobbled. Focusing her mind she raised a glowing green hand to her forehead to rid herself of the effects of the sake.

However, in her condition, she only managed to sober up a little bit, but at least she could walk without stumbling now.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" the blonde Hokage called as she looked at Kakashi asking the exact same question with her hazel eyes.

"Tsunade-shishou… I…. I've done a terrible thing. Naruto's in danger, you need to go save him!"

"Sakura what are you talking about? Why is Naruto in danger?" the concerned master asked her apprentice.

"Shishou… I… I told him that I don't love him… That I only put up with him because he was my pet demon who could bring Sasuske back to me…"

The concerned look that was on the Hokage's face was replaced with an angry one. Tsunade's body began shaking with fury. Naruto was one of her last remaining precious people. He was like a son to her… She did not, WOULD NOT, tolerate anyone hurting the boy anymore, ESPECIALLY when it came to matters of the Kyubi.

Kakashi let go of Sakura, and stepped away while his one eye showed a look of disgust.

"I… told him that he failed me. I called him a bad pet and said that I didn't care if he died… I told him I couldn't let him kill Sasuke, then I told him…" Sakura's dropped to her knees as fresh tears continued pouring from her eyes, "I told him he was worthless demon scum."

Tsunade's body was shaking so much in her rage that the office began to vibrate as she subconsciously expelled chakra from her entire body…

Feeling the office shake snapped Kakashi out of his thoughts. Now that he was focused on something other than Sakura, the rational part in Kakashi's brain began to start clicking.

_This just doesn't add up… Ever since Naruto returned from his trip with Jiraiya, Sakura and Naruto have been getting closer. And she's been sneaking into his room every night for the past month casting that genjutsu on him to help him sleep… And now she's barely able to function she's so stricken with grief. What am I missing here?_

"Then… I told him I don't ever want to see him again. I told him to leave the village and never return." the blubbering pink-haired kunoichi continued, burying her face in her hands as her sobs only grew louder.

"And as he began to cry, I told him to stop. I told him he was the Kyubi, that the scar on my arm was proof, and that a demon like him doesn't deserve happiness, only misery."

There were no logical thoughts going through the head of the Gondaime Hokage, anger was all she felt. Pure rage coursed through her veins. NO ONE did this to HER boy and got away with it.

"And… then… and then he apologized and…"

WHAM!

Sakura was shut up as her master's fist connected with her jaw sending her careening through the wall. Once her body hit the hard ground below, she tried to pull herself up with a stunned expression on her face. She wasn't given much time to react though as the Hokage was suddenly in front of her with her fist pulled back. Tsunade's killer intent was truly terrifying, Sakura knew her master was going to kill her.

_I deserve to die._ Konoha's cherry blossom could've dodged the incoming blow, instead she stood still with tears of sadness in her eyes as she felt it connect with, and shatter her nose.

Tsunade charged forward. There was a small voice in the back of her head telling her to that Sakura could've easily dodged that. That if Sakura was in such a state she would not have purposefully said those things to Naruto, that there has to be more to this story. That small voice was trying to find a megaphone to scream, "SASUKE UCHIHA!" but the Hokage was to blinded by rage.

As she neared her apprentice, Kakashi appeared in front of her, Sharingan exposed.

"Hokage-sama, calm down. I think we're missing something. This doesn't make any sense."

"GET OUT OF MY WAY KAKASHI OR ELSE I WILL STRIP YOU OF YOUR NINJA RANK!"

"Gomensai Hokage-sama," the copy nin replied with one his famous eye smiles. "I'm afraid I can't do that. I can't stand idly by and watch you kill…"

Before Kakashi could finish his sentence, the Hokage had appeared behind him striking him in the back of the head. He pulled himself up as the Hokage neared Sakura, ready to pummel the girl's brains out. Pushing chakra into his legs flipped up into the air landing between the raging blonde woman and his crying student.

"I told you Hokage-sama…"

A dejected Sakura looked at her sensei's back. _Why is he protecting me after what I've done? I deserve to die. But he doesn't, Kakashi-sensei doesn't stand a chance against shishou when she's in this state._ The pinkette halted her tears and softly crept behind Kakashi.

Kakashi was too focused on the raging Hokage to notice Sakura behind him. "I will not let you…"

_Sorry sensei, but I don't want you to get hurt too. And I really do deserve this._ She put her hands on Kakashi's temples and muttered, "Neru-no Jutsu."

Tsunade's eyes widened just slightly as she watched her apprentice put the man defending her to sleep. Once again a little voice was yelling at her to stop and think about the situation. As she stared at her bloodied, dejected apprentice, her eyes began to soften and regret slowly began to flood into her.

_FLASHBACK_

_Kabuto charged forward preparing to end her life, Tsunade had no fight left in her, this was the end._

_She closed her eyes waiting for the final blow, when she didn't feel one, she slowly opened her eyes and gasped. The small boy in the orange and blue jumpsuit, with spiky blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes stood there with a snarl on his face as blood trickled down from beneath his forehead protector._

"_Now I'll put an end to this" he screamed out. He summoned a shadow clone and began forming a familiar sphere, one she had seen many times in the hands of her former teammate, Jiraiya, and his apprentice, Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime._

"_RASENGAN!" the boy thrust the orb into Kabuto's stomach._

_Tsunade couldn't believe her eyes, this little loud boy managed to master the rasengan in a matter of days. Pride flowed into her as she looked at him. She knew she was looking at Konoha's future._

_FLASH IN_

All logical thought was pushed from Tsunade's head as the memory revitalized the rage that had been flowing through her body. She leapt forward and began to continually beat her student. Sakura merely stared up at her with sad eyes, not even trying to defend herself.

Exhaustion began to set in as Tsunade pummeled the "face," if you could really call it that at this point, of the pink-haired girl beneath her. With one last burst of strength she picked Sakura off the ground and threw her back into the Hokage Tower where the girl skidded into a bookshelf in her office.

The exhausted Hokage leapt into her office, preparing to deal the finishing blow to the girl who had hurt HER son.

Sakura could barely see her master readying the final blow through her swollen eyes. For the first time since Naruto left, a small smile came across her face.

_This is the end, now I get what I deserve for hurting you. Naruto… I'm so sorry. Please be safe and please find happiness._

Tsunade's fist began to swing towards Sakura's temple.

"KAGE MANE NO JUTSU" a lazy voice yelled out.

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" came the panicked voice of Shizune. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SAKURA? STOP!"

All of the anger left Tsunade's frozen body as Shikamaru kept his hands in their clenched sign. The Hokage looked down at the body of her apprentice. Sakura was a mess, both of her eyes were practically swollen shut, her nose looked like someone had been hitting it with a sledgehammer for five years straight, and blood covered her entire face. Tsunade's face dropped.

_What the hell did I just do?_

"Shikamaru… Shizune-san… let her go. I deserve this." came the small, quiet, sad voice of Sakura.

"Sakura… what did I… Sakura I'm so sorry! Shizune, begin healing her at once. Shikamaru, go get Ino and tell here right away, then get the rest of the Rookie 9 and Team Guy at once!"

Shikamaru gave her a wary glance and held the jutsu for a moment longer, before deciding the Hokage had returned to her senses. He turned around and left right away to complete his orders. His patented, "troublesome" never left his lips. _Whatever happened, this is too serious to be troublesome._

_

* * *

_

Kakashi slowly stirred, as his foggy mind was trying to figure out why he had been sleeping on the ground near the Hokage tower…

_Sakura!_ All the fog left his mind. He never suspected his student would use a sleeping jutsu on him to stop him from protecting her. Sensing the Hokage's chakra signal, he teleported into her office, kunai in hand, Mangekyo Sharingan activated. Tsunade was the last of the legendary sannin, he would need to pull out everything he had to protect Sakura…

"Nani?" he couldn't help but gasp at the sight that greeted him in the office. Shizune pouring healing chakra into Sakura while Tsunade stood back with tears in her eyes.

"Kakashi. I'm… sorry. I don't know what came over me." said the Hokage as she turned towards him.

"As Hokage you should have better control over your emotions Hokage-sama, especially when it comes to Sakura. I know what Naruto means to you, especially after Jiraiya-sama… well you know. But you've trained Sakura, she should be precious to you as well." The copy ninja didn't even try to hide the disappointment in his voice.

A small chuckle escaped Tsunade's mouth. "God what kind of Hokage am I? I just beat my apprentice within an inch of her life, needed a young jounin to stop me from killing her, and am now getting lectured by another one of my jounin's…"

By this point Kakashi had covered up his sharingan, and his one visible eye softened. "I'm not going to say it's ok Hokage-sama. But it was Naruto. I almost fell to my anger as well. But let's not reflect upon this anymore. We need to figure out what we're missing, because both you and I know that there is no way in hell Sakura would willingly do that to Naruto."

"Thank you Kakashi-sensei… but I'm afraid your faith in me is unwarranted. I was originally going to tell him that I love him, but then for some reason I decided that I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to say those things to him. With my medinin skills, I'm trained to be able to tell when something is controlling me… and believe me when I say this Kakashi-sensei, I was in complete control." Sakura's tears began spilling out of her eyes once again as she looked away from the three ninja in the room.

"Stop it Sakura. I've known you since you were a little girl; you would never hurt someone so badly on purpose, especially someone you care about. And I know, and I can see right now, that you clearly care about Naruto. I can see that you truly do… wait a minute, Sakura… why does your blood look so… pale?"

Tsunade's eyes widened as she gasped.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Sorry Baa-chan but this is important. Earlier I was working on improving my sage mode with geezer sage and as I began to enter sage mode, I sensed Sasuke's chakra signature, but it quickly disappeared." _

_FLASH IN_

"Damnit…" Tsunade muttered.

_FLASHBACK_

"_DAMNIT!" Orichmaru spat. "Those stupid Uchiha messed up my beautiful potion!"_

"_What the hell are you talking about Orichimaru? The potion worked just fine, that oto-nin was under the complete control of that Uchiha and didn't even realize it." a confused Jiraiya said._

"_Jiraiya… look closely at the Oto-Nin's blood." Tsunade remarked before turning away with a shiver. She hated blood…_

"_What about it… I don't see anything wrong with it…"_

"_Look carefully you idiot." Orichimaru snarled. "The blood is pale. If someone examined the body they would be able to notice the slightly pale color of the blood and that would be an indicator of foul play. That damned idiot of an Uchiha must've let the potion boil or something…"_

_FLASH IN_

"DAMNIT!" Tsunade yelled. "How could I have missed this?"

Tsunade looked up to the see Rookie 9 and Team Guy enter her office while Kakashi fixed her with a curious glance.

"INO! Help Shizune heal Sakura!"

Ino had already ran to her best friend and had begun pouring healing chakra into Sakura's body before Tsunade had even finished her sentence. She had no idea what happened to the pink-haired girl.

"Ino… stop." Sakura muttered.

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP! We have a SSS rank emergency on our hands!" the Goindaime Hokage barked out.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had set up camp for the rest of the night. The avenger was in no hurry to do Madara's bidding afterall. He watched as his former teammate continued to stare lifelessly forward. Guilt that he had been ignoring began to take command of his body.

_FLASHBACK_

"_SASUKE!" Naruto yelled as he tossed a strange looking shuriken to him._

_I see. I see what you want to do Naruto. Sasuke thought as he set his eyes upon the "demon in the mist" who currently had his sensei trapped in a sphere of water. It's pretty good considering it came from you!_

"_The Fuuma Shuriken, The Shadow Windmill." Sasuke calmly called out._

"_A shuriken won't work on me." Zabuza calmly replied._

_Sasuke jumped into the air and whipped the fuuma shuriken at the "demon" missing the mizu bunshin and headed straight towards the original._

"_I see. So you're going after the real one this time. But it's too easy for me!" he remarked catching the fuuma shuriken. A look of surprise fell upon Zabuza's face as he saw another fuuma shuriken headed at him. "Another shuriken was in the shadow of the shuriken? That's the kage-shuriken no jutsu." Zabuza jumped to dodge the second shuriken. "But it's still too easy for me."_

_Sasuke smirked as the second "shuriken" Zabuza dodged puffed away in smoke, replaced by his hyper-active blond teammate._

"_THIS IS THE SPOT!" Naruto yelled as a shocked Zabuza turned to face him. He threw the kunai towards the "demon's" face forcing Zabuza to dodge and break the jutsu freeing Kakashi._

_FLASH IN_

_That was the first time I truly respected that dobe. It's so weird seeing him as he is right now. He should be moving around, yelling, screaming…_ _I'm sorry Naruto._ The pang of guilt shot through Sasuske's heart. He closed his eyes, and focused his mind.

He replayed the Uchiha massacre in his mind, and Itachi's last moments of life. He channeled the hatred and rage, using it to eliminate the guilt that had begun to plague his body.

_He's my enemy. He's part of Konoha. Thanks to the village he strives to protect, my entire clan was slaughtered by my brother, and I in turn murdered him. I had to kill my own brother because of Konoha. My own brother had to kill his entire clan because of Konoha._

Sasuke opened his eyes, no trace of guilt on his face. _This is the continuation of my vengeance on Konoha, they deserve this after everything they did to my family…_

_

* * *

_

All of the The Rookie 9 and Team Guy, minus Ino were glaring daggers at Sakura as Tsunade told them what happened to Naruto. The platinum blonde knew how her best friend felt about Naruto, something wasn't right here.

"That was most un-youthful Sakura-san, I can't believe I ever loved you!" an angry Lee spat out.

"Yosh! Sakura-san how could you…"

"Gai!" Kakashi interrupted. "Everyone, shut up, and let Tsunade continue."

_Stop protecting me Kakashi-sensei_ a nearly-healed Sakura thought. _I deserve all of this, I… I…._

"Sakura did not say those things to Naruto of her own free will." the Gondaime continued. Shooting her own glare at the ninja glaring at Sakura.

_I…hurt Naru… what? Now shishou's trying to protect me too..? DAMNIT!"_

"TSUNADE-SHISHOU STOP!" Sakura shot up as yet more tears spilled from her eyes. "I've been trained to be able to sense when I don't have control over my body, and I told you already, I sensed nothing. I was in complete control. I said those terrible things to Naruto of my own free will!"

Tsunade fixed her student with a soft sad glance, "Sasuke was in Konoha recently." Everyone in the room, save Shizune and Tsunade, gasped.

"Naruto was working on improving his sage mode, when he briefly sensed Sasuke. When he looked for Sasuke, he couldn't find him with sage mode, so the gaki assumed Sasuke had left. But I now know that's not the case. Apparently Sasuke has gotten so good at masking his chakra presence, that he can mask it even from Naruto's sage mode."

"Shishou…" her apprentice's voice did a poor job of hiding her shock. "While that's certainly troubling, that has nothing to do with what I said to Naruto."

"Sasuke did something to Sakura that made her blood pale didn't he?" Konoha's laziest, and smartest jounin spoke up. The Hokage nodded.

_He… did something to me?_ A weight slowly began lifting itself off Sakura's chest.

"During the Third Great Shinobi War, Orichimaru developed a potion designed specifically for the Uchihas. Once the target drank the potion, the Uchiha's could control the victim with their sharingans. The potion fed off the sharingan's natural ability with genjutsus and was so subtle, that not even the most powerful ninja would be able to tell that they weren't in control. The Uchiha would control the victim, all while they thought they were in complete control."

Sakura's eyes widened. _More weight began lifting off her chest, and the weight was slowly being replaced with something else. Rage. Pure, unrelenting rage._ She closed her eyes and clenched her fist so tightly she drew blood. But she didn't seem to notice.

"Wait Tsunade-sama," Kakashi interjected. "Orichimaru wasn't known for being humane, is it detrimental to the victim's health? Does it stay in their blood forever or does it go away?"

"Since Orichimaru designed the potion so no one would be able to detect it, it doesn't have any other negative effects on the body. Also, it dissipates as soon as the Uchiha breaks the link of control, making it a one-use potion. Seeing how Sakura was acting after she thought she hurt Naruto, it's safe to say the link has been broken and she's free of his control."

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

"Moving on… This potion was instrumental in helping us win the Third Great Shinobi War. Not only did the enemy have to worry about the Yellow Flash, they thought their own people were turning on them. The potion was **nearly** perfect."

"It causes the victims blood to pale in color!" Ino shouted.

"Almost, but not exactly. If administered properly, there will be no visible sign of its presence. But if administered improperly, like if it was boiled, it would cause the victim's blood to pale in color." Tsunade finished.

_So that means I had to drink a warm drink that… _Sakura's eyes flashed upon.

"SASUKE!" she snarled now fully healed. "I…WILL…**KILL YOU!**"

* * *

Naruto woke up in a dark room, with a layer of water on the floor, and a large cage with a seal on it.

"What do you want fox?" Naruto asked in a monotone voice.

"**What do you think you're doing kit? You're just following that Uchiha to the Akatsuki? You're strong, but not even you can take down all of the remaining Akatsuki members by yourself. Madara is too powerful."**

"I'm not going to try to take down the Akatsuki…"

"**Then why are you following that Uchiha brat? Do you think he's going to have a change of heart and return to Konoha with you while uttering thousands of apologies? That's not…"**

"I know that the Sasuke I knew is lost. I don't plan on bringing him back to Konoha."

"**Then what the hell do you think you're doing kit? You're calmly walking to your death. Not that I care about your life, but I am the mighty Kyubi no Yoko! I will not be used for someone else's purposes!"**

"I'm accepting my destiny. I'm a demon, I deserve misery. I'm embracing that misery and will be happy when I finally reach the end of my path."

"**DAMNIT KIT! This isn't you." **_**Hmmm… I'm going to have to come at him with a different approach… the Kyubi thought. **_**"So you deserve misery huh? Fine, I won't argue that. But what do you think is going to happen to all those people you tried so hard to protect when you're taken?"**

A small twitch could be seen on Naruto's blank face.

"**When I'm taken from you, and Madara uses me for his moon-eye plan, do you really think all of Konoha will be safe? No, they will all be slaughtered. Your sensei, your Hokage, Iruka, your friends, your pink-haired vixen…"**

"I don't have a pink-haired vixen fox. I never had, and never will." The blonde jinchuriki spat, with a slight tone of anger and hurt to his otherwise dead voice.

"**That doesn't mean you still don't care about her. I know you kit, you still want to protect those people, especially her. If you just give up now, you're as good as sending all of your precious people, along with the rest of the world, to certain death."**

The Yondaime's legacy showed the first true hint of emotion since his conversation with Sakura as his face contorted into a frown.

"Someone else will rise up. Madara won't win. There's no need for me to fight, my end is so close I can taste it. I will not stop now."

"**DAMNIT KIT, I WILL NOT..."**

"I'm going now fox, my end awaits."

The husk opened his lifeless eyes and felt the cool night breeze blow through his spiky blonde hair. Sasuke had fallen asleep. He could easily escape, return to Konoha, to Iruka, to Granny Tsunade, to Kakashi, to his friends, to Sakura…

"_Now get out of my sight demon scum!"_

No, the jinchuriki couldn't return to Konoha. If he did, he would find happiness, which he certainly didn't deserve. And he would once again be around the woman he loved who wanted nothing to do with him, he couldn't do that to her.

The blonde closed his eyes and allowed sleep to take him.

* * *

The Hokage, Iruka, the Rookie 9, all of Team 7, and Team Guy were all at the village gates. Tsunade looked at the mini-army gathered before her, she had only wanted to take three, maybe four other people at most, but each and every single person in her office refused.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Ok everyone. Now I am going to be leading a small team to find and retrieve Naruto. That team will consist of Kakashi, Sakura and Kiba…"_

"_I MUST BE ALLOWED TO GO ON THIS MISSION HOKAGE-SAMA SO I CAN RETRIEVE NARUTO AND REIGNITE THE BEAUTIFUL FLAMES OF LOVE BETWEEN MY TWO YOUTHFUL FRIENDS!" Lee yelled out, causing a blush and a small smile to adorn Sakura's face._

"_WELL SAID LEE! IT WOULD BE A SHAME IF ANYTHING WERE TO HAPPEN TO SOMEONE WITH SUCH BRIGHT FLAMES OF YOUTH LIKE NARUTO!" yelled his sensei._

"_I'm sorry, but a small group would be…" Tsunade started._

"_Naruto is both an ally, and a friend. I will not be left out of this mission." a stoic Shino interrupted._

"_I owe far too much to Naruto to sit back as Sasuke drags him to the Akatsuki." Neji said._

_Hinata stepped forward, "I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for Naruto-kun. I will be going as well."_

_Chouji stopped munching on his chips, "Naruto has always been a friend. Don't think I'm going to stay here while my friend is in danger Hokage-sama."_

"_This is Naruto we're talking about here. I'm not going to stay here either while he's potentially in the Akatsuki's clutches." Tenten stated._

"_Count me in. Dickless… Naruto has become my first friend since my time in Root. If Sasuke took him, then we will take him back." Sai said as he and Yamato stepped out of the places they had been hiding in for the entire meeting._

"_I haven't known Naruto for as long as the rest of you, but that boy is something special. I'm not going to let Akatsuki take him." Yamato added._

"_I'm not as strong as the rest of you, but there is nothing that will keep me from saving Naruto." Iruka proclaimed as he too, stepped out of his hiding place._

"_Sorry Hokage-sama, but not only is Naruto a friend, he's also the man that my best friend loves. I'm not going to sit back and wait while he's in danger." Ino declared once again causing Sakura to blush._

"_Troublesome eh Hokage-sama?" Shikamaru said as he lazily stepped forward. "It just had to be Naruto who got captured. Naruto, who all of us view as a dear friend. Naruto, who each and every one of us would gladly give their lives for. I'm going as well."_

"_But… but… we need some ninja to remain in the village." A startled Tsunade stammered._

"_There are plenty of other ninja who will do just fine. Besides, look at this way, with this small army, even if Sasuke has already taken Naruto to the Akatsuki we'll have plenty of manpower to take him back." Kakashi interrupted._

"_Enough standing around! Let's go get that idiot back and KICK SASUKE'S ASS!" Kiba hollered._

_A warm smile formed on the faces of both the Hokage and her pink-haired apprentice. Both were touched by how much Naruto meant to everyone, and both silently wished that the knucklehead were present to witness this._

"_Shizune! You're in charge while I'm gone. ALRIGHT. Operation Retrieve Naruto and Kick Sasuke's Ass begins now. MOVE OUT!" the last remaining Sannin bellowed._

_FLASH IN_

"Kakashi, summon your dogs. Sakura, we need something with Naruto's scent for the dogs…"

"No need Hokage-sama. Me and Akamaru have sparred with that idiot enough to have his scent memorized, and I can smell his trail. Let's go!" Kiba and Akamaru sped off, and the rest of the mini-army followed.

Sakura tightened her fist as she ran.

_Naruto… please be ok. I promise I will make everything better, I promise that I will make you happy. That's a promise a lifetime…_

_

* * *

_

Naruto stared at the man in the strange orange swirling mask, with a blank face.

"Ah Naruto-kun, so nice of you to join us. Come, let's get rid of that Kyubi for you." Madara said in an overly friendly tone.

The husk offered no resistance as the ancient Uchiha led him to the room where he was going to die. Madara stopped.

"Sasuke, Zetsu and I will be strong enough to drain the Kyubi on our own. You and 100 Zetsus will remain guard. I know your plan was good, but Konoha has both Kakashi Hatake and Shikamaru Nara, so there's always a possibility they'll figure it out."

"Hhn." Was Sasuke's only reply.

"Well then, shall we Naruto?" again, the over-friendly tone.

The jinchuriki numbly began walking into the room.

Sasuke watched his back, knowing this was the last time he would ever see his best friend and brother. A small part of Sasuke wanted to kill Madara and take Naruto back to Konoha. Sasuke began walking towards Madara, hand on the hilt of his kusanagi.

_This is wrong, I can't let this happen to the dobe, my brother…_

Sasuke stopped and closed his eyes as he calmed himself. _No, this is necessary. Konoha is the reason each and every single member of my clan is dead. _And to someone who was looking very closely for it, they could see the sadness reflected in Sasuke Uchiha's eyes.

_Goodbye… brother. _

Sasuke closed his eyes again and focused on his clan's slaughter. The familiar rage began pouring through his body, washing away his guilt.

_Goodbye… Konoha._

_

* * *

_

Whew! 13 pages, not too bad. Few quick notes:

I know it might be hard to believe that Tsunade would suddenly flip and beat the shit out of Sakura, but I do have a "valid" argument to support this. Tsunade has few truly precious people left in her life (yes, as Hokage all people of the leaf are precious to her, but as TSUNADE she only has a few). When Jiraiya died, she lost one of her most precious people. Naturally she would be more protective of the remaining ones. Naruto IS Jiraiya's student and Naruto is one of her last few precious people. Yes, Sakura is precious to her as well, but mix all of this with alcohol (remember, she was only able to sober herself up enough to walk), and bam. You got a Hokage smackdown on your hands.

I really have no idea how to write TenTen, so just went with a generic statement that I thought might work for her. Sorry TenTen fans, but don't expect to read much more about her. Maybe in fight scenes, but you won't see much else other than that.

Next chapter is going to be an interesting one. I'm a little wary about writing a fight scene.. Oops. Spoiler alert: next chapter there's going to be a fight scene. Anywho… I'm not overly confident on my ability to write a good fight scene, so we'll see how it turns out.

Anywho… I hope you enjoyed, sorry for making Naruto and Sakura emo, but hey, you would be too if that just happened to you. See you next time!


	5. The Two Battles

And a very long Chapter 5 has arrived hot on the heels of Chapter 4! OH MY!

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks everyone who has reviewed thus far. They really help to keep me motivated to keep going!

Shout out to my reviewers since I posted the last chapter: Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, Serenity Namikaze, Toasty Warrior, Lavoisiae, Season Crystal, Echo Uchiha

Echo Uchiha: hehe, sorry. If it's any consolation there's far less depression in this chapter (IMO) =P

Season Crystal: Thanks! Believe me, I was very tempted to have Sakura to lunge forward, crash her lips into Naruto's and tell him she didn't mean any of that, that she actually loves him. But sadly the story would not allow it!

Toasty Warrior: I think you're going to like this chapter [insert evil Sakura grin here]

Serenity Namikaze: Ya.. again sorry for making Naruto emo. Hopefully he'll un-emo'fy soon… Thanks for the kind words! Side note- I originally typed in "Operation- Retrieve Naruto and Kick Sasuke's ass" as a placeholder until I could come up with a more serious name. But while editing it, it entertained me too much so it stayed =P

Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: It would be nice if the Kyubi or Sasuke intervened wouldn't it? Hmm hmm…

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would never have worn a black and RED cloak with his black and ORANGE jumpsuit. Seriously… I'm a guy and even I know red and orange is a no no. What the hell was Naruto thinking?

And with that ever so insightful thought in your head, let's move onto the main act.

Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"– Chapter 5: The Two Battles

* * *

The last remaining legendary sannin leapt from tree to tree following the Inuzuka and his dog as they rushed to find the boy she thinks of as a son. As they crossed a river with a bad current, Tsunade surveyed the small army that had accompanied her. They all looked exhausted, and for good reason. They had been chakra enhanced running for the past six hours without a single break.

_We won't be able to help Naruto if we're all exhausted, and it is getting dark… "_Everyone! We're taking going to camp here." The Hokage barked out as the final member of her army made it across.

"But Tsunade-shishou! Naruto's in danger. Sasuke could've already brought him to the Akatsuki… We don't have time to rest!"

"Sakura, we will be of no use to Naruto if we're all exhausted when we finally reach him. Look around you, everyone is exhausted." Tsunade calmy told her pink-haired student.

"Fine, you can all rest. Kiba, tell me which way Naruto is, I'm fine. I'll keep going and you guys can come back me up when you're rested." Konoha's cherry blossom huffed.

Tsunade smiled, she was proud of her apprentice. Sakura had blossomed into a beautiful and powerful kunoichi, and Tsunade was absolutely thrilled at who she had fallen in love with.

"Sakura, your legs are shaking and you are covered in sweat. You are going to rest, and THAT is that."

"Damnit shishou, I don't have time to rest I…"

"Oh shut it forehead! Do you really want to tell Naruto you love him looking like that?"

Sakura blushed at her best friend's comment. "Who said anything about telling him I love him." She mumbled.

Kakashi silently took in the exchange with a smile on his face. Sakura was acting just like Naruto when they were running to save Gaara.

_Looks like Naruto has rubbed off on you Sakura._ He thought with one of his famous one-eyed smiles. The smile was replaced by a frown quickly though. _I just hope we don't get there too late this time…_

_

* * *

_

The Kyubi jinchuriki stared at the strange statue that was going to be killing him in a few short moments. There were two hands cuffed together, and a face with nine eys. All but two eyes were open.

_So this is it. Finally, I've reached the end. _Images of all the people who had accepted him over the years flashed through his mine.

"Arigato." The husk whispered his final words as he laid down underneath the chain connecting the two hands.

Madara and Zetsu stood on two of the fingers. "Now then, let's begin." Madara said, as both he and Zetsu formed the same hand signs.

Naruto was lifted into the air as blue energy that was his very soul began to surround him. It felt so… strange, so surreal to be surrounded by your soul. Then it began, his soul began being sucked out of him and into the open mouth of the statue.

Pain was not a sufficient word to describe what Naruto felt as began to be drained. What the jinchuriki was feeling was beyond pain. Once the Kyubi began leaking out of Naruto's eyes and mouth, the "pain" only intensified. He felt one of the two remaining closed eyes on the statue slowly start to open.

The legacy of the Yondaime wanted to scream but found that he physically could not, his body would only allow for him to gurgle in pain.

_This is what I deserve._ The blonde-haired husk thought. _It's only fitting that before I die I feel this kind of pain, afterall I caused more pain than this to the people of Konoha. Only a little while longer and my end will finally arrive…_

One final image supplanted itself in his mind, and stayed there. He stared at the emerald-eyed angel that he loved.

_Goodbye...Sakura-chan._

_

* * *

_

Vibrant emerald eyes stared into a smoldering fire and pink hair swayed gently in the night breeze. Sakura had volunteered to take the first watch because there was no way she would be able to sleep. She was exhausted, the chakra-enhanced running for six straight hours drained her. But she couldn't stop, not until she had her knucklehead back.

_What if… what if I'm not too late? What if they've already killed him?_ She suddenly thought. Tears that she hadn't let drop since leaving Konoha threatened to spill from her eyes as she dropped her head.

_**WE'RE NOT GOING TO BE TOO LATE! WE'RE GOING TO GET BACK OUR NARUTO-KUN AND KICK SASUKE-TEME'S EMO ASS, SHANAROO!**_

Sakura was startled, she hadn't heard from her inner for a very long time. _You? What are you doing here? I thought you were gone._

_**You stopped acting the way you thought other people wanted to act and started acting like yourself. So I wasn't needed.**_

_Then why are you here right now?_

_**Because you are strong. You are Sakura Haruno, apprentice of the legendary sannin and Gondaime Hokage. You don't need to be worrying about failing Naruto-kun! It's finally your turn to save HIM and there's no way you're going to fail. SHANAROO!**_

Sakura smiled, her inner's speech succeeded in lifting her spirits and returning her confidence. Naruto would be back with her in no time. She smiled and started day-dreaming about her future life with the knucklehead.

"..kura. Sakura, earth to Sakura!"

"Shishou!" a startled Sakura was brought out of her daydreaming by her master.

"Sakura… I wanted to apologize for beating you so badly earlier. I'm so…"

"Don't worry about it shishou!" Sakura interrupted with a fake smile that she learned from her favorite knucklehead. "You've done worse to me during training! And besides, you were angry about what happened to Naruto, I probably would've done the same thing in your place."

"No Sakura, that's no excuse. If Shikamaru and Shizune hadn't arrived when they did, I probably would've killed you… Had I done that, I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

"Shishou, really it's no…"

"Shut up and let me finish Sakura!" the sannin barked. "You're right, I was angry about what happened to Naruto. He's one of the few remaining precious people I have left. But not just that, whenever I see him, he reminds me so much of Jiraiya… It just makes me extra protective of him."

The Hokage suddenly grabbed both of Sakura's shoulders, staring straight into her emerald eyes.

"Naruto is like a son to me. But he's not the only precious person I have. You, Sakura, are also one of my precious people. And you are like a daughter to me. I just wanted you to know that." The Hokage finished with a smile.

Her apprentice smiled back. "Wait… shishou nothing personal, but you might want to stop thinking about me as a daughter." She nearly laughed at the confused face her master made.

"I plan on spending the rest of my life with Naruto, and it's kind of frowned upon for a brother and sister to be with each other... like **that**." Sakura finished with a smirk.

Both master and apprentice burst into laughter.

* * *

Sasuke sat meditating outside of the hideout. He lost track of how much time had passed when Madara started draining Naruto.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Why… What the hell do you want? Why do you care so much?" Sasuke yelled at his biggest rival._

_Naruto merely smiled, "Because we're friends!"_

_FLASH IN_

_Friends. Hhn, some friend I turned out to be eh dobe?_ Again Sasuke was considering saving Naruto. He didn't have much time left, and there didn't seem to be anyone from the leaf in the area. Naruto… the man who never gave up on him… the man who knew his pain.

_No, Naruto doesn't know my pain. He knows pain, but not MY pain. Konoha slaughtered my clan…_ _But Naruto is my friend, my brother. _Sighing to himself, Sasuke stood up, drawing his kusanagi as he began walking into the base.

"What are you doing Sasuke?" a Zetsu asked causing Sasuske to freeze in stride. _If I do this… I will not be able to get my vengeance on Konoha for what they did to Itachi and my clan. If I don't my best friend will die…_

"Sasuke?"

The Uchiha sheathed his sword and resumed his meditation pose. _Sorry Naruto, but I am an avenger. You may be my best friend, but you are also my most powerful enemy. You need to die, as does the rest of Konoha so the Uchiha clan can regain its honor._

Sasuke once again started replaying his family's massacre and Itachi's death in his mind. Watching over and over, using his anger to push away his guilt and to hide his bond with the Kyubi jinchuriki.

* * *

After a good night's rest, the mini-army was once again following Naruto's trail, although this time at a more comfortable pace without using chakra to increase their speed.

"His scent is getting stronger. We're almost to him." Kiba called out to the group.

Excitement, fear and anger flew through Sakura as she began to gather chakra in her legs to reach her knucklehead faster. Just as she tensed her leg muscles to take off, Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I know we're close Sakura, but you need to conserve every ounce of chakra you have. You're going to need it when we all fight Sasuke, he's become so powerful now that only Naruto could handle him one on one."

"Actually sensei… I want to fight Sasuke… alone. He used me to destroy the man I love… that…" she gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "That is unforgivable. And I want to be the one who defeats and kills that bastard. And if I kill him alone, it will just be an added insult to him, to be killed by me, someone he views as weak."

"Sakura… that's all good and all, but you can't handle Sasuke by yourself. You are very powerful, but Sasuke and Naruto have reached a new level of power that you and I are just not at."

"Everyone listen up! Sakura and I will fight Sasuke by ourselves, the rest of you are to stay out of the fight." Came the unnervingly calm voice of the last remaining Sannin.

"Hokage-sama that still won't be enough. The two of you won't be able to beat Sasuke on your own!" Kakashi all but yelled, his normally calm demeanor gone. He had already lost Sasuke, and he might have already lost Naruto, he didn't want to lose Sakura too.

"Shishou, I'm sorry, but I can't allow that. Sasuke is **mine**."

"Sakura, I know why you want to kill Sasuke by yourself, but that's not going to happen. Naruto is very important to me too, I want to help beat the life out of the bastard that hurt him…" the Hokage growled.

"Hai shishou… "

"We're almost there, although now I smell a bunch of different scents around Naruto…" Kiba said.

"Neji, use your byakugan to scan ahead." The Hokage ordered.

"I can see Sasuke, he's sitting in front of a hideout. But he's not alone, there's 100 pale men who look like Zetsu of the Akatsuki around him. Although… they don't have a venus fly trap around their heads like Zetsu does. Ok, they're just up ahead in that clearing." The Hyuga finished his report.

"Shikamaru!"

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"You're in charge of the battle. Sakura and I will be dealing with Sasuke, you are to command everyone else in the battle with those other 100 nins."

"Tch, troublesome." Shikamaru grumbled earning a hit on the back of his head from Ino.

"Ok. Kakashi, Yamato, Guy, Lee,Kiba, Chouji, Neji and Hinata will fight the enemy at close range. Sai you will attack from the air. Ino, Iruka, Tenten, Shino and myself will provide ranged support. Tenten specifically will be focused on attacking since she has enough precision and enough weapons to do so, Shino will also focus on attacking since he can send his bugs in from a distance. Ino and Iruka will be focused on watching the backs of the close range team. I will be supporting the close ranged team by trapping enemies with my shadows making them easy prey."

Everyone nodded as they listened to the lazy genius' plan.

"This is it. Naruto is somewhere inside that base, the sooner we take care of this scum the sooner we retrieve Naruto." Tsunade bellowed. "LET'S GO!"

The mini-army charged forward, with Sai taking to the air on a bird he drew.

_Sasuke…_ thought an enraged pink-haired kunoichi. _After I'm through with you you'll be WISHING you were experiencing the hell you put Naruto through._

_

* * *

_

Naruto had no idea how long he had been getting drained, it seemed like years. _How much longer am I going to have to feel this pain? This hurts…_ The eye on the statue was nearly fully open. This had to end soon. Then suddenly all the pain stopped. He could no longer feel the Kyubi's presence. He cautiously opened his eyes and gasped.

He was standing in an area that was all white, and was littered with fog.

Naruto Uzumaki, Kyubi jinchuriki, legacy of the Yondaime, student of the great Toad Sannin Jiraiya, future Hokage… was dead.

"Naruto?" a surprised voice gasped.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes as he felt his former friends charge forward. The Zetsus instantly rushed forward to meet them. Sasuke stood, preparing to do the same when he felt a tremor and a large wall of earth suddenly blocked him off.

"OH SASUKE-KUUUUUUUUUUUUN" Sakura called out in an unnervingly sugary voice, a sickeningly sweet smile plastered on her face. "Your fight…" Suddenly Sakura's face changed to one of utter anger. The killing intent pouring from her made it hard to breathe. "**IS WITH ME!"** she finished with a terrifying roar as she ran forward, fists glowing with chakra.

* * *

"Kuso!" Tsunade swore. Sakura had gotten away from her and isolated herself and Sasuke. Tsunade started running towards the barrier Sakura set up to smash through it and join the fight, but the Zetsus continued to block her path, and forced her to fall back.

"Shikamaru, I need a path to Sakura… NOW!"

"Sorry hokage-sama, but until we kill off some of those enemy ninjas, I don't see a way that can happen." The lazy genius replied. "Stay back here and conserve your chakra with the ranged team until we've killed off 40 or so of those things."

"Screw that!" the Hokage yelled, leaping into the fray. "I'm going to speed things up!"

* * *

Whoever said that losing your calm in a battle put you at a distinct disadvantage had never met Sakura. The enraged kunoichi attacked Sasuke with a strength and speed that was beyond her normal levels.

_The man who took my love away from me, the man who ruined what could have been a perfect moment that both Naruto and I would smile fondly back upon for the rest of our lives… Oh that man NEEDS to feel pain._

These were the only thoughts that were going through Sakura's brain. No doubt, no strategy, only anger. The girl was fighting solely on instinct. And she was doing good. Sasuke's normally calm face could not hide his shock, as his former teammate connected with yet another hard punch to the face and he went flying backwards.

Sasuke had barely managed to pick himself up when she suddenly appeared above him and slammed him back down into the ground creating a large crater. She gathered even more chakra into her fist and tried to slam it into Sasuke's head, but the avenger dodged and sent a kick into her gut forcing her back.

Drawing his kusanagi he channeled his chidori through it and charged forward. Sakura dodged his stab attempt, but couldn't block his kick that hit her in the side sending her flying backwards. Sasuke made a few hand signs.

"Goukakyuu no Jutsu" he shot a giant fireball out of his mouth towards his former fan girl.

Sakura punched the ground forcing a piece of earth up to block the fireball. She flicked the earth wall, causing it to crack and nearly break. "Kaze no Bakehutsu" Sakura yelled and pushed her palms forward as a powerful blast of wind burst from them shattering the earth wall and sending the shards of it straight towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke swore as he saw the hundreds of little shards of earth fly toward him, he activated his mangekyo sharingan and summoned Susanoo, using it to shield himself from the attack.

"Impressive Sakura, I never would have expected to have to pull this out against **you**. And I certainly didn't want to have to use one of my post powerful techniques so early in a fight."

Sakura was panting, she had already used up a lot of chakra. Seeing Susanoo brought her out of her rage and her mind began thinking rationally again. She was a little surprised that she still had about half of her chakra left after all the chakra she just used. She wasn't sure how she had gotten stronger, faster, and a larger chakra pool, but she didn't have time to question it now.

She examined Sasuke's Susanoo, it was a huge dark purple demonic looking humanoid clad in armor, with horns on its head. In one hand it had some sort of chakra sword, and in the other a bow. The latter being what Sasuke used to defend himself from her attack, so it must function as a shield as well. She really wished she hadn't been too busy healing Karin to see Susanoo in action when Sasuke used it against Kakashi.

Even with her increased chakra pool, the kunoichi knew she was going to need more chakra if she wanted to beat Sasuke now that he had his complete Susanoo summoned. She needed to buy some time. Throwing down a smoke bomb, Sakura muttered, "Sasai Chakra no Jutsu."

She was especially proud of this technique, she took a note from Naruto's book and developed this unique jutsu as a way around a seemingly impossible problem, her small chakra reserves. This jutsu stimulates the user's chakra coils making them replenish chakra at an incredibly fast rate. The only problem with the technique, she couldn't move her body much while using it. But still, she figured she would only need five minutes to completely replenish her chakra.

Now all she had to do was get Sasuke to start talking.

* * *

Kakashi whirled around to block a punch from a Zetsu. He took a swipe at his attacker with a kunai which connected with tore through the Zetsu's shoulder. He was about to deliver a fatal blow when he felt something in the earth, flipping into the air, he narrowly dodged as another Zetsu came out of the Earth swiping at where he had just been standing.

As he landed he sensed another Zetsu behind him, he swore as he braced for the coming blow, not having enough time to react. The impact never came as his attacker was forced to dodge a kunai aimed for his neck. Iruka followed the kunai with three shurikens which forced the Zetsu to leap back where he landed in Shikamaru's shadow.

Rushing forward Kakashi slashed the Zetsus throat. He leapt back to the range team for a second to see how everyone was doing.

"Thanks Iruka, Shikamaru" he said with a one-eyed smile. He looked at the other close ranged fighters. Hinata looked like she was about to fall over from exhaustion, she had been using her juuho shouriken the entire fight. Neji was hovering around her, but faring much better. Like Kakashi, he appeared to be holding back to conserve chakra. Chouji was showing signs of fatigue, but overall looked fine. His arms were enlarged as he batted away zetsus.

Like Chouji, Kiba was beginning to show signs of exhaustion, but the boy had impressive stamina, as he and Akamaru continued to launch gatsuga after gatsuga at the zetsus.

Watching Guy and Lee it was hard to believe that they had already been fighting enemies who greatly outnumbered them for ten minutes. The strange duo had managed to turn the battle into a "youthful" competition as they called out each new Zetsu they fell.

"FIVE!" came the over-enthusiastic voice of Guy as he snapped a Zetsu's neck with a powerful kick.

_Well at least I've killed six so far, so I can beat Guy yet again…_

"I've only fell two of these foul beasts compared to Guy-sensei's five. I must defeat more and surpass Guy sensei!" Guy's student yelled.

"LEE! SEEING YOUR SHINING YOUTH DRIVES ME IN THIS FIGHT!"

Kakashi sweat-dropped. His gaze finally landed on Tsunade, she was obviously holding back, saving most of her strength to help Sakura in her fight against Sasuke.

_Sakura…_ Reality suddenly set in against Kakashi. Sakura had been fighting Sasuke on her own for ten minutes, she was strong, but no match for Sasuke. _Tsunade needs to get to Sakura soon, before it's too late. _He uncovered his sharingan.

"Shikamaru, how many Zetsus are left?"

"64." Came the reply from the genius Nara, without missing a beat.

_Just as I expected, he's keeping track of each Zetsu we kill._

"How many do we need to kill before the Hokage can join Sakura?"

"As of right now, probably another 8. But I've been watching the Zetsus and it seems like they're holding back. They're hardly using any jutsus. I find it hard to believe that any form of Zetsu would depend upon taijutsu."

"Hmm… I guess we'll just have to find out, ne?" Kakashi replied with a now two-eyed smile. The smile quickly turned into a serious expression. "Hinata is nearly out of chakra, you might want to have her fall back and provide support for a while. I'm going to start going all-out now."

"Right. Tenten."

"Hai?"

"You're going to replace Hinata in the close combat team. Go tell her to get back here."

"Alright." The weapon mistress said, summoning two scimitars before she ran towards Hinata.

"Shino, watch Hinata. As soon as she starts to fall back, I want you to cover her."

Shino merely nodded in response.

"Alright, I'm going now." Kakashi told Shikamaru, and started sprinting towards a large clump of Zetsus. One Zetsu saw him coming, and noticed his uncovered sharingan. He made a strange noise and suddenly all the Zetsus leapt back from the battle. Kakashi warily gazed at them.

And then all at once, in perfect synchronization the Zetsus were forming handsigns. And all at the same time, muttered something that none of the Konoho nin could hear. _Kuso!_

Kakashi activated his mangekyo sharingan as all at once, as a large root wall shot out of the ground and looked to impale the Konoha shinobi. Kakashi used his mangekyo sharingan to teleport the entire wall away.

_Kuso…_ Kakashi thought as he fell backwards into unconsciousness, having exhausted all of his chakra with his mangekyo sharingan's technique.

* * *

"Naruto?" a surprised voice gasped. Naruto turned around and peered into the fog, where he saw a figure walking towards him. Relief flooded into him, and a large smile lit up his face as the voice's owner came into view.

"PERVY SAGE!" Naruto rushed forward and embraced his teacher in a hug. "Pervy sage… I missed you I…"

"Ya ya, I missed you too gaki, but that's not important right now. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here…" his master replied with a slightly confused face.

Naruto dropped his head and stared at the ground. "I…died. The Akatsuki extracted the Kyubi from me."

"NANI? THEY DID WHAT? How? That doesn't make sense. When I left, you were strong. I watched as you complete sage training and then defeated Nagato. You surpassed me, you were surrounded by powerful allies. There should have been no way the Akatsuki should've been able to capture you."

"I…" thoughts of Naruto's final encounter with Sakura ran through his mind. "I… don't want to talk about it ok? I'm just glad to finally be here."

"…Finally be here? Gaki you're dead. Don't get me wrong, it's good to see you again, but you shouldn't want to be here. Everyone in Konoha is now in danger. We need to figure out how to get you back. With you gone I can't think of any shinobi who stand a chance at defeating Madara…"

"Pervy sage… I'm not going back. What's the point of going back? I was despised there, I was a demon. You were one of the few people who accepted me, and you left…"

"What are you talking about Naruto? You had a loyal group of friends, Tsunada, Iruka, Kakashi, and Sakura." Jiraiya did not miss Naruto's expression drop further at the mention of the boy's favorite kunoichi. _Hmmm…_

"Naruto, Sakura was starting to really come around to you when I left. And from what I've seen while watching you two, I would say it's only a matter of time until you finally get her!"

"Pervy sage… Sakura never liked me, and never will like me. She used me to bring Sasuke back to her. She recognized that I was a demon, not a human…"

"Nani? Naruto that's…"

"Just drop it Jiraiya-sensei. I don't want to talk about it now. I'm here now, I can finally be happy."

_Just what did I miss? Maybe we shouldn't have stopped watching him these past couple weeks, it looks like it's going to be hard to get him to say what happened to him. _Jiraiya's eyes widened. _Minato must've known about this somehow. That's why he suddenly disappeared. _

"Ok gaki. I'll drop it for now, but we're going to be talking about this soon. Now follow me, I have someone I want you to meet. Oh, and don't call me pervy sage in front of her, that's a nickname that **she** doesn't need to know about."

Naruto looked at his sensei with a confused expression before nodding and following him.

* * *

Shikamaru swore as he watched Kakashi fall backwards unconscious after saving them all from the root wall using his sharingan.

"Iruka, go get Kakashi and bring him back here." _We need enough people to be fighting the Zetsus in close range to keep them distracted so the Zetsu army doesn't attack the ranged team. The ranged team on the other hand is needed support the close ranged team to help them deal with the numbers disadvantage. Kakashi was crucial to the close range team due to his power, without him some Zetsus are bound to attack the ranged team._

Shikamaru's eyes turned to the ranged team. _ Damnit, no one here is good enough in close quarter combat to fight up close against such overwhelming numbers. Ino's decent enough, but her specialty is mind jutsus, her taijutsu really isn't good enough to go against such numbers. Hinata is an excellent close-range fighter, but she's still far too exhausted to be of use._

_Shino's taijutsu isn't the best since he relies entirely on his bugs during his fight. He won't last long surrounded by Zetsus…_

"Damnit…" Shikamaru glanced into the sky were Sai was dropping his hand-sketched tigers from his perch above the battlefield. _Sai handles himself well in close combat, but being outside of the Zetsus attack range allows him to focus entirely on drawing more animals to attack which helps with the numbers disadvantage. He needs to stay up there._

_That leaves only one option._ "Damnit!" _Looks like you're going to get your wish afterall Sakura._ Shikamaru mused as Iruka returned with an unconscious Kakashi.

"Iruka, now I need you to go to the Hokage, tell her with Kakashi down we can no longer afford to let her join Sakura's battle. We need her to stop holding back and use her full power on the Zetsu army. For now, we will just need to have faith in Sakura. Shino, cover Iruka."

"Hai." Iruka replied sprinting towards the Hokage as Shino's bugs swarmed around him.

He returned his gaze his focus to the battlefield. The Zetsus were using vines from the ground, making things far more difficult for the Konoha shinobi.

_62. Slowly but surely we're whittling their numbers down. Hopefully we can keep this up without any losses on our side._

He caught a Zetsu in his shadow and watched as Tenten beheaded it with one fluid strike of her scimitar.

_61…_

_

* * *

_

Tsunade side stepped as a Zetsu shot another vine out of the ground at her. As the Hokage she was filled with pride for the Konoha shinobi. Even though they were originally outnumbered 100-14, they had yet to suffer a single loss while they had managed to kill a sizeable chunk of the Zetsus. Losing Kakashi was a heavy blow, but at least he was alive. As Tsunade she was worried about her apprentice, as much as she hated to admit it, Sakura could not defeat Sasuke on her own.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Iruka?" replied a confused Hokage. "You need to get back, you're a member of the ranged team."

"Shikamaru sent me with a message Hokage-sama. With Kakashi out of the fight we need you to stay here and stop holding back. He says that for now, we just have to have faith in Sakura."

"Kuso!" the Hokage swore. "That just means I have to kill all of these things faster!" Tsunade pumped chakra into her fist and slammed it into the ground sending a wall of earth into a group of ten Zetsus. She only managed to kill one with the attack, but at least that was one last vine-wielding maniac.

She pumped chakra into her legs and leapt into the startled group, her fist connecting with the jaw of one of the Zetsus which caused it to fly off into a tree, that it remained stuck in, unmoving. More roots shot out of the ground to her left. Without enough time to dodge, she slammed her fist into the ground and a wall of Earth blocked the vines.

As more Zetsus began to surround her, the sannin decided she needed to join another one of the close-ranged fighters. "SHINO, GIVE ME A WAY TO GUY AND LEE" the Hokage yelled. A swarm of small, black, buzzing insects swarmed around the zetsus, effectively distracting them, giving Tsunade the opportunity she needed to join Guy and Lee.

"HOKAGE-SAMA, I AM MOST HONORED TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT ALONGSIDE YOU IN BATTLE!" yelled Lee upon her arrival.

"WELL SAID LEE!" Guy agreed.

_These two… they're unreal._ The green jumpsuit wearing shinobi did not look like they had been fighting a foe who heavily outnumbered them for twenty straight minutes. As she sent another Zetsu flying with a powerful punch, she scanned the battlefield.

_Guy and Lee are fine, I should join someone more fatigued._

"GATSUGA!" cried Kiba as he and Akamaru crashed into a Zetsu. His breathing was becoming haggard, and the now Kiba clone Akamaru was showing similar signs of fatigue.

"Five!" Lee yelled out as he slammed a Zetsu head-first into the ground.

"Nine!" Came Guy's reply as another Zetsu was punched into the ground.

Distracted by the antics of her two taijutsu masters, Tsunade failed to notice a Zetsu coming out of the ground behind her. She whirled around to defend herself when the an ink tiger pounced on the zetsu, biting it's throat. The Hokage arrived at the side of the exhausted Inuzuka and his companion just in time to bash a Zetsu in the temple as he went to kill Kiba from behind.

"Thanks." Kiba said in an exhausted tone as more Zetsus began coming toward the now trio.

"Don't mention it. How are you holding up?"

"Me and Akamaru are doing great. We could keep this up all day!"

"Good. Here they come."

Kiba would forever tell his future children and grand children about the day he fought side by side with the legendary Sannin and Gondaime Hokage, Tsunade.

* * *

Sasuke watched slightly confused as his former teammate appeared in the exact spot where she had been when she threw her smoke bomb. He didn't sense anything that suggested she had moved somewhere else while she was shrouded by smoke. She didn't know any advanced clone techniques that he knew of.

_What are you up to Sakura…_

"Why are you doing this Sasuke?"

* * *

_DAMNIT! _Shikamaru looked at the battlefield. The konoha nins had managed to kill 62 of the Zetsus, but now even Guy and Lee were getting tired. They wouldn't be able to last much longer against such overwhelming odds.

_Come on… think. There has to be something I can do… _Shikamaru was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the person who softly dropped out of the sky behind him. A pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his neck in a… hug?

"Thinking of giving up lazy bones?" Temari murmed into his ear.

"…Temari? What are you…"

Shikamaru was interrupted as a wave of sand caught ten Zetsus and crushed them.

"Reinforcements have arrived." Temari said as she let go of Shikamaru and grabbed her fan. The Suna blonde charged forward.

Relief flooded into Shikamaru as he watched one of Kankuro's puppets stab a Zetsu that had nearly impaled Chouji with a root.

He caught another Zetsu in his shadow and smirked as Temari used her fan to tear him apart. _Looks like we're going to win this fight afterall. _The smirk was replaced with a worried frown as he looked at the earth wall separating the two battles. _You better be ok Sakura…_

_

* * *

_

"Why are you doing this Sasuke?" Sakura asked Sasuke in as level of a tone as she could muster. She really didn't care anymore, her entire body ached to beat the avenger to a bloody pulp. But she needed to have all of her chakra back if she wanted to beat his Susanoo. And she needed time for her sasai chakra no jutsu to restore her chakra.

"I already told you, vengeance. Konoha slaughtered my clan, Konoha made me kill Itachi. Konoha must pay with blood."

"I see. Now tell me Sasuke, are you happy?"

_FLASHBACK_

"_But revenge…that won't bring anyone happiness. No one… neither you…nor I." a 12-year old Sakura told Sasuke fighting back tears._

_FLASH IN_

"Hhn. Am I happy? My clan is gone, my older brother is gone, I have nothing left…"

_Three minutes, just two more than I will show you what happens when you mess with my Naruto Sasuke…_ Sakura thought, barely paying attention to Sasuke's words.

"I will be happy when Konoha has joined my brother and clan in the ground. I've told you once, and I'll tell you again for the final time, I have severed my bonds with you. I have severed my bonds with Konoha."

_Four minutes. Come on… just one more!_

"You haven't severed your bonds. I can see it in your eyes. Naruto has never given up on you, he will happily accept you back in Konoha. If you're worried about punishment, Naruto will be probably be the Hokage soon, I'm sure he'll make sure you're pardoned!"

_The baka probably would, even after everything you've done to him. But I'm not going to give you that chance Sasuke… Finally, five minutes. Now Sasuke, now you answer for your crimes against Naruto._

"Hhn, that dobe isn't going to ever be Hokage." Sasuke said with an arrogant voice, but his eyes held just a slight bit of sadness in them. Sadness which Sakura missed.

"Naruto's come a long way since you were with us Sasuke, the village respects…"

"Madara has been draining Naruto of the Kyubi for a while now. The dobe is probably already dead, and if he's not, he will be soon."

Those were the absolute worst words Sasuke could say. _He…Naruto…no…._ "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

"Ririsu!" she screamed as a fresh wave of terrifying killing intent poured out of her. Her chakra fully restored she roared, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU SASUKE!"

Sakura charged forward, preparing to kill the man she spent her childhood fawning over.

* * *

Oh wow! 6,025 words! I'm fairly pleased with how the fight scenes turned out. Not the best I've ever read, but not the worst. Man what a crazy chapter huh? I've decided that with all the jutsus I've listed off I'm going to include a jutsu directory after this speel to translate them.

For Sakura to realistically stand a chance against Sasuke, she needed some way to have access to far more chakra than she normally has. So I gave her the sasai chakra no jutsu as a way to feasibly give her that power.

Questions answered next time- How the hell did the sand siblings arrive on the scene (well, an explanation that's NOT- "the author thinks Gaara is a bamf and wanted to add his awesomeness to his story) Who is Jiraiya taking Naruto to meet? Where did Minato go? Can Sakura defeat Sasuke?

Stay tuned!

Now, onto the jutsu list…

Goukakyuu no Jutsu- Grand Fireball Technique

Kaze no Bakehutsu- Windblast

Sasai Chakra no Jutsu- Chakra Regeneration Technique

Juuho Shouriken- Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists

Ririsu- "Release." Sakura has to say release to stop the sasai chakra no jutsu.

Hmm… that's a smaller list than I thought. Ah well, see you next time!


	6. Stranded

Hey chapter 6! Cool, we are now officially (most likely) over halfway there.

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far. They really help to keep me motivated!

I was pleasantly surprised with all the reviews I got for that last chapter. A shot out to those who reviewed since last time: cmcwiki, GraysonPaladin, Echo Uchiha, Toasty Warrior, Goddess of Night Earth Eternal Faith, Bikiluf, DanddoSeri, Mitzzi, Serenity Namikaze, darkjedi35, Kyuubi loves narSaku

cmcwiki: /e whistles and looks away innocently

GraysonPaladin: I'm glad you enjoyed Sakura pounding on Sasuke. I think you'll enjoy this and the next chapter =P

Echo Uchiha: thanks!

Toasty Warrior: Sakura doesn't know that Naruto's dead yet. But she DOES know she's pissed at him for that whole potion thing… :D

Goddess of Night Earth Eternal Faith: Thanks!

Bikiluf: a good observation on the Kushina thing. Unfortunately you won't get your answer until NEXT chapter… =P As for the extraction, I needed it to happen quickly, so my lame reasoning (which ever so slightly COULD be reasonable…ish) is that before Madara had to hold back so none of the other members would suspect Tobi of being some superpowerful badass who's been alive for centuries plotting to take over the world…

DanddoSeri: thanks! There will be some happiness in this chapter, and more happiness to come!

Mitzzi: man I hope not! Naruto would be a sad sad future Hokage if his Sakura-chan were dead! But she is fighting Sasuke one on one… Hmmmmm =/

Serenity Namikaze: hahaha, Sasuke really is fun to hate =P Glad you enjoy the badass Sakura!

darkjedi35: /e salutes

Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: I'm glad you liked the ShikaTem moment =) Aww, I love Sakura. She's got spunk! Who really knows what's going on with that crazy Kyubi!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Sarutobi would've wtfpwned Orichimaru while the two were watching the chunin exams… And while we're on the chunin exams, Naruto would've given chunin rank for beating Neji than BEATING GAARA. I mean… come on now…

And after that ever so lengthy intro, let's get onto the main act shall we?

Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk" –Chapter 6: Stranded

* * *

Shikamaru watched in amazement as the sand siblings quickly cut down the number of Zetsus. Gaara's sand flew from Zetsu to Zetsu, crushing them in his sand coffin. Kankuro stood near Shikamaru as his puppets dropped Zetsu after Zetsu. And lastly Temari was shooting wind out of her fan that ripped through the Zetsu army.

The sand siblings furious counter attack obviously caught the Zetsus off guard, and in a mere five minutes after joining the battle, the Konoha shinobi and sand siblings stared down the two remaining Zetsus.

Just as the Zetsus began to form handseals, Guy and Lee released their weights. In perfect unison, both master and student disappeared from sight, only to reappear in front of their respective Zetsu where they delivered a quick jab to the two Zetsus' windpipes.

Shikamaru couldn't shake an uneasy feeling as the two Zetsus fell backwards, a startled look on their face as their throat made gurgling noises.

_The sand siblings are powerful, especially Gaara, but that was too easy. I know our team was being worn down, but we weren't able to drop Zetsus that quickly even when we were fresh. What am I missing…_

As Shikamaru tried finding something wrong, he examined his friends. While the Zetsu army seemed to be taken care of, there was still much fighting to be done. First they had to get to Sakura, then they would have to deal with whatever Akatsuki were inside the base.

Kakashi was still unconscious from using his mangekyo sharingan to teleport the massive root wall that was going to impale the Konoha shinobi away. Shino was panting heavily, his bugs ate away a lot of his chakra since he used them so much in the fight.

Hinata had recovered some from earlier, but from the way her legs trembled, she could probably only go a good five minutes in a fight before being completely exhausted again. Neji had exhausted most of his chakra with all of the hakkesho kaiten's he had used.

Chouji was laying on his back exhausted, from the looks of him though, it looked like he hadn't used any of his clans three colored pills, so if worst came to worst, he could be counted on in a fight. Kiba and Akamaru looked as if they had been training with Guy and Lee for a week straight without a break, both boy and dog's chakra levels were dangerously low.

Guy and Lee were definitely worse for wear. But both looked like they could still fight, although Shikamaru figured both would need to start opening gates early in any potential fight. Sai was sitting cross-legged on the ground panting heavily. To be honest, Shikamaru was surprised Sai was even conscious, he had sent a constant barrage of ink tigers into the battle, there's no way he had any chakra left.

Tenten was bent over, as she tried to regain her breath. Judging by the amount of weapons that littered the battlefield, she had almost exhausted her near limitless supply of weapons. She wouldn't be of much use in a fight until she had time to reseal all of them.

Both Iruka and Ino were fine, they didn't have to use much chakra since they were focused on throwing kunai and shuriken to watch the close combat team's back. Tsunade had definitely used up a lot of chakra, but still seemed to have enough left to fight. But ideally she should save her chakra so she could heal Naruto if he is hurt when they find him. Seeing as how Sakura has been fighting Sasuke for so long, she probably wouldn't have much chakra left, if any at all.

Yamato was sitting down panting heavily, he had been using his mokuton jutsus to try to counteract the Zetsu's roots, and due to the sheer number he tried to counter, he ended up exhausting most of his chakra.

From what Shikamaru knew of Gaara's chakra capacity, Shikamaru calculated that he used up about half of his chakra slaughtering Zetsus. His chakra pool wasn't as large as it used to be without the Shukaku in him anymore, but it was still abnormally large thanks to housing a demon for 15 years. Gaara would still be able to hold his own against most shinobi, but if they came up against a powerhouse like Madara, then he would not be able to do much.

Temari and Kankuro looked fairly good. The two wisely conserved their chakra as the Kazakage took out a good portion of the Zetsus. Finally Shikamaru himself only had about 25% of his chakra left, he had been using his kage mane no jutsu for the majority of the battle.

_Great, we have two full strength jounins in Temari and Kankuro, two full strength chunins in Ino and Iruka, one exhausted chounin that could fight on jounin level at the likely cost of his life in Chouji, two jounins at about half strength in Guy and Lee, two kages at half strength, then a bunch of exhausted shinobi ranging from chunin to jounin._

Shikamaru was brought out of his thinking as Tsunade rushed towards the wall Sakura had created. Just as her fist reared back, a root shot out of the wall and impaled her through her left shoulder blade. Guy quickly punched through the root as Lee grabbed the Hokage and leapt a safe distance away.

"What the hell was that?" the startled sannin gasped, as she put a glowing green hand over her wound.

A black Zetsu slowly began to come out of the wall. "Madara-sama has requested that no one interferes in Sasuke's fight. Anyone who tries to break through this wall will be killed." It called as it slinked back into the wall.

"Damnit…" The lazy Nara muttered.

"I WILL NOT STAND BY AS SAKURA-SAN FIGHTS SASUKE ALONE." Lee yelled, charging towards the wall. Free of his weights, he was able to dodge the first 15 roots the wall sent at him, but even with his speed, he was overwhelmed and paid for his "youthful" actions by being impaled by several roots. Just before a deadly blow could be struck Lee disappeared only to reappear in his sensei's arms right in front of Ino.

No words needed to be said as Ino got to work on healing the bleeding Guy clone.

"So… got any plans for getting around this thing Shikamaru?" Temari asked as she walked to his side.

"Time is of the essence here, Sakura is fighting Sasuke one on one right now. If we can't take the fastest route and go through the wall, we'll have to take the next fastest and go above it."

"Yo, Gaara!" Shikamaru called. The Kazekage fixed him with a stare. "How many people can you take into the air with your sand?"

The young kage pondered for a minute, "probably no more than four if I still wanted to have enough chakra left to fight."

"Ok, see if you can fly above the wall. I want to be sure the Zetsu in it doesn't have some sort of defense set up for the air before you take more people."

Gaara merely nodded as his sand carried him into the sky. As Gaara looked to clear the wall, a wall of vines erupted from the top that continued to grow as he flew higher, effectively making it impossible for the former jinchuriki to fly over the wall.

"Damn…" Shikamaru muttered as he turned to Guy. "Guy-sensei, see if you can't run around the wall. It's the only option we have left at this point."

In what seemed to be a matter of seconds, Guy was near the end of Sakura's wall about to run around it as a wall of roots blocked his path as it did Gaara.

_Damnit, how is one Zetsu doing this? The Zetsus we fought were not able to summon all of these roots like this, hell, these roots have the potential to be larger than the root wall Kakashi teleported away… The Zetsus we fought were pale colored, could this black Zetsu really be that much stronger?_

"Shikamaru, tell me how I'm going to reach my apprentice… NOW!" the Hokage growled as she reached him.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but there doesn't seem to be a way around the wall, we're going to have to put our faith in Sakura…"

"KUSO!" Tsunade swore. "You better be ok Sakura…"

* * *

A fully revitalized Sakura dodged an arrow launched by Susanoo, and slammed her fist into the ground launching an earth wall as a counter attack. Sasuke brought the bow down to shield himself from the attack, but Sakura disappeared from in front of him, reappearing about five feet to his right. She once again slammed her fist into the ground, except this time she created a rift directly where the avenger had been standing.

As he lost his balance Sakura lunged forward striking with a chakra enhanced fist. Much to the enraged kunoichi's disappointment, the strike was not enough to break through Susanoo's armor. She flipped backwards into the air, forming the handsigns in midair, "Suiton: Mizu no Muchi!"

Sakura lashed at Sasuke with the water whip, but Susanoo's chakra blade blocked it. Sasuke countered by launching another arrow at Sakura who slammed her fist into the ground to block the arrow with an earth wall. The arrow slammed into the wall, the explosion knocking Sakura back.

Quickly returning to her feet, Sakura began punching the ground, causing seismic tremors to rush through the ground. As the Uchiha struggled to maintain his balance through the ensuing mini-earthquake, Sakura was forming more handseals.

"Suiton: Teppodama!" Sakura shot two water bullets from her mouth directly at Sasuke's legs hoping to knock him off balance, while sending the third directly at Susanoo's head. Susanoo's bow shielded Sasuke's legs from the water bullets, as the third bullet hit Susanoo directly in the head.

Pushing chakra into her legs she leapt forward landing another chakra powered fist on Susanoo. Sasuke countered by bringing Susanoo's chakra blade down on her. Without time to dodge, Sakura reacted solely on instinct, and blocked the blade with a chakra covered arm.

Stamping a foot in the ground, Earth flew backwards from her in every direction giving her the distraction she needed to get some space between her and the avenger. Blocking the chakra blade had used up a lot of chakra and Sakura didn't have much left.

Tossing down three smoke bombs, Sakura muttered, "Mizu-bunshin no jutsu" as three water clones appeared. While the clones ran out of the smoke, the kunoichi burrowed herself in the ground. "Sasai chakra no jutsu"

Sakura began to calm down as she felt her chakra rapidly regenerating. So far it seemed that she had managed to keep Sasuke on the defensive. The Susanoo seemed to be absorbing every attack she threw at it. Although when she attacked Sasuke and the Susanoo at the same time, it used the bow to shield Sasuke while taking the attack directly.

_Why does Sasuke keep shielding himself with the bow when he could just let my attack be absorbed by his Susanoo's armor and instead launch a quicker counter… _

Only two minutes had passed before Sakura felt the last of her mizu-bunshins was destroyed.

_Damnit, I was only able to get 20% of my chakra back. That leaves me at 35% of my total chakra left and I still haven't killed this thing._ "Ririsu."

Sakura burrowed her way to the right and shot out of the ground 10 feet away from where she was as an arrow crashed into where she had been burrowed moments before. She shot another three water bullets at Sasuke as she started running towards him.

Each bullet was again blocked by the bow. Sasuke leapt backwards as a rift opened in the ground where he had been standing moments earlier courtesy of Sakura's foot. Sakura pushed chakra into her legs and struck Susanoo with a powerful kick before quickly getting out of range of the chakra blade.

Both Sakura and Sasuke were now breathing heavily, but Sasuke seemed to have plenty of chakra left while Sakura had nearly run out. _I don't have enough chakra left to keep this up for long, I need to finish this fight now._ Sakura's fist looked as if it was surrounded by a large blue ball of fire as she channeled all of her remaining chakra into it.

_Sasuke looks pretty tired, so I should be close to completely breaking down his Susanoo. This attack has to work..._ Sakura launched her chakra powered fist into Susanoo, her fist began to push through the armor before being repelled back.

Sakura flipped backwards, landing shakily on her legs, now out of chakra. _Damnit! I've trained so hard, I am not weak!_

Seeing his pink-haired teammate about ready to fall over from chakra exhaustion, Sasuke smirked. "You did much better than I ever would have expected Sakura. But in the end, you weren't strong enough to defeat me. You were foolish to try to take me, an Uchiha, on by yourself."

Sasuke began readying an arrow to finish off the kunoichi.

_Damnit! Naruto… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..._

Just as Susanoo shot the arrow towards her, a warm, familiar chakra exploded around Sakura's body…

* * *

Naruto followed Jiraiya in silence, still reveling in the fact that he was actually seeing his master. He had missed Jiraiya terribly after his death. And with sage training, Pain's attack, then the whole kage summit thing, the now former jinchuriki never really got a chance to sit down and get over his master's death. He just had to push it to the back of his mind to be dealt with later.

Now here he was, following the Toad Sennin to meet some mysterious woman.

"Ah, there she is." Jiraiya pointing at a woman, breaking the silence and bringing Naruto from his thoughts. Naruto followed his finger and gasped at the sight.

A woman who with long, flowing vibrant red hair that went past her midsection, stunning sapphire eyes and a perfect figure stood watching some sort of pedestal with a frown on her face. After Sakura, this woman was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Yet, he wasn't attracted to her beauty, for some reason his body seemed to know this woman.

"Yo, Kushina!"

The woman's head snapped up. Sapphire eyes met sapphire eyes as she stared at Naruto, a small smile replacing the frown that had just been on her face.

"Naruto, it's good to see you again." She said with a voice that gave the Yondaime's legacy a warm feeling inside.

"Nani? Listen lady, I just met you." The blonde gruffly called out in an attempt to hide his confusion. Kushina just continued smiling at him.

"Well I guess you wouldn't remember me. You haven't seen me in 16 years after all." As the words left the red-haired woman's lips, Naruto stared directly into her eyes. They were like looking directly into a mirror.

Suddenly Naruto lunged forward wrapping the woman in a tight embrace. "I've always… always wanted to see you ttebayo… mom" he whispered as tears fell from his eyes. He felt his mother tighten the embrace.

"Ttebayo eh? You really do take after me…"

Naruto pulled back from the hug, with an excited grin on his face. "There are so many things… I wanted to ask if I ever saw you!"

"Yeah… We can take our time and talk… but first I need to know why you're here. It is far too early for you to be dead."

"Well…eh… you see… there was this powerful group after the Kyubi inside of me…"

"The Akatsuki, right."

"Right, they call themselves Akatsuki… wait, how do you know about Akatsuki?"

Kushina directed another gentle smile at her son. "Just because your father and I weren't there with you physically, doesn't mean we didn't watch over you. I've watched you your entire life Naruto, and I'm so proud of the man you've become."

Fresh tears down Naruto's face. _My mom… my mom just said she's proud of me!_

"Thanks Mom… you don't know how much it means to hear you say that." Naruto said with a warm and happy tone to his voice.

"I mean it. Now keep going. What about the Akatsuki?"

"Well… they captured me and extracted the Kyubi from me."

"How did they capture you? Minato, Jiraiya and I have been busy preparing something these past couple of weeks, but they were down to three members. You are now a powerful sage, and were surrounded by powerful allies…" his mother pressed, still confused.

"Ah here you are Naruto. I would like to hear this myself." Called Minato as he appeared out of nowhere in a yellow flash.

"DAD!" Naruto wrapped his father in a hug, more tears falling from his smiling face.

"Hello Naruto, I'm proud of the way you handled Nagato."

"Is everything ready Minato?" Kushina asked.

"Ya, everything is in place. Now we just need to get all the pieces in the right spot."

Naruto was too lost in his own thoughts to really listen to his parents conversation. _Both of my parents just told me they were proud of me… So this is what it feels like to have a family…_

"How's she doing down there sensei?" the Yondaime asked.

"She's doing a lot better than I thought she would. Tsunade trained her well, but I still didn't think she would be able to hold her own against Sasuke." Replied Jiraiya as he peered down at the pedestal he had moved in front of while Naruto and Kushina talked.

Hearing Sasuke's name brought Naruto out of his musings. He broke the embrace with his father and turned to stare at Jiraiya, a confused look on his face. _Who's fighting Sasuke?_

I still don't think she'll be able to overcome Susanoo once he summons it though." continued the sannin grimly.

"You should know by now to underestimate an angry woman Jiraiya." Kushina smirked cruelly. Jiraiya fixed her with a look of fear.

"Oi, pervy sage…" Jiraiya sweat-dropped.

"Pervy sage? Oh that's such a perfect name for you!" Kushina cooed.

"Damnit gaki! I told you not to use that name around her, now I'm never going to hear the end of this."

"Relax sensei, we've watched Naruto's entire life. We already knew the name, I managed to convince Kushina to wait until she heard it in person before she starting calling you it."

Kushina grinned, "That's my boy! Coming up with the perfect name for you pervy sage!"

"Jeeze, I give you a name as cool as Naruto and the thanks I get is pervy sage?" the perverted sage grumbled.

"Who's fighting Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a completely serious voice. At this question, the faces of Kushina, Minato and Jiraiya tugged downwards into small frowns.

"Come over here and see gaki."

Naruto walked over to the pedestal, and gasped. The top of the pedestal was dipped into a bowl shape, and was filled with water. But that's not what made Naruto gasp, it was the image in the water itself. He watched as his former best friend charged at the woman he loved with his chidori current running through his kusanagi.

Much to Naruto's relief, Sakura dodged the swipe, but she received a kick to her side which Sasuke followed up by shooting a giant fireball at her. She slammed her fist into the ground and a giant hunk of earth blocked the fireball. Sakura flicked the chunk causing it to crack, then followed it up with a wind jutsu blasting shards of rock at Sasuke.

"What the…" a startled Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke had blocked the attack with a large demonic humanoid creature that was dark purple. Naruto clenched his fist. _Sakura-chan…_ Every fiber of Naruto's being wanted to suddenly teleport down there and join Sakura in her fight. But he couldn't, she didn't want to see him anymore, and… he was dead.

_It doesn't matter, I'm happy here._ The most recent former jinchuriki thought.

"Naruto, I know this battle between your old teammates is fascinating, but we need to know why you're here." Minato said with a stern voice as he pulled Naruto's shoulders so father and son were facing each other. "How did the Akatsuki capture you?"

Naruto's body expression changed from one of a surprise and curiosity to one of depression as his father asked the question. _I was hoping they were so distracted by everything that just happened they would've forgotten about that…_

"I don't really want to talk about it father, I'm sorry. I'm not ready now, I'll tell you in a few years when I'm ready."

"No Naruto." This time it was his mother, who had come to stand by her husband's side. "We don't have that kind of time. You will tell us now, now ifs ands or buts young man!"

This got a slight smile out of Naruto, it felt nice to be scolded by his mother.

"Well… I kind of let myself get captured…"

"NANI?" both his parents and master yelled out.

"I let Sasuke take me to the Akatsuki based, and I let them drain the Kyubi out of me…"

"Were you trying to convince Sasuke to come back to Konoha with you?" Jiraiya asked.

"Or were you letting Sasuke lead you to Madara so you could take him out?" his father continued.

"No and no, I just let them alright? Letting them extract the Kyubi from me allowed for me to escape the hell that was my life…"

Jiraiya and Minato's faces visibly softened, both trying to come up with the right words to say to their favorite blonde-haired 16-year old. Kushina's face was pensive however. Jiraiya was the first to speak up.

"Naruto, I know your childhood wasn't easy. But you fought and fought and never gave in. You now have the respect of your village, precious people like Tsunade, Kakashi, Iruka and the rest of your friends. Surely your life can't be that bad now." Jiraiya said, purposefully leaving out Sakura's name remembering what happened the last time he used it.

"You're right pervy sage… but… I don't really deserve any of it. Down there, I'm a demon."

This caused Kushina to snap.

"NANI TTEBAYO?" she screamed as she lunged forward punching her son in the gut. "You are not a demon! You are a jinchuriki, there's a difference!"

"The people of the village don't think so… Sakura doesn't think so… No mom, there isn't a difference, jinchuriki's are demons."

This caused his mother to wrap him in a bone crushing bear hug. "No Naruto, jinchuriki's are heroes, saviors of the world. They keep powerful demons from destroying the world. Don't you EVER call yourself a demon… You hear me?"

"Yes mom…" he mumbled.

"Kushina…" Minato said softly looking down at the pedestal. "She doesn't have much time. You need to go before it's too late."

Glancing at Minato, she tightened the embrace with her son. "Naruto, I have to go now."

"Nani? Mom…" Kushina put a finger to his lips to shush him. "I'm needed elsewhere. Listen to me, you shouldn't be here yet. You still have a lot to do in the world of the living. You are not a demon, never have been, and never will be. You are my son. A strong man, a caring man, a brave man, a man who never gives up. I love you Naruto."

Tears were streaming down Naruto's eyes, "I love you too mom."

Kushina released Naruto from her embrace and began walking towards the fog. Before disappearing she turned around and winked at Naruto, "I'll see you soon sweetie!" and with that, Kushina Namikaze disappeared.

* * *

Sasuke was breathing heavily. He couldn't believe Sakura had become this powerful. His body still throbbed from the hits he took from her in the beginning of the fight.

_I knew you didn't need me Sakura. _The Uchiha thought with the smallest amount of pride for his former teammate. _You've become very powerful on your own._

She dropped a bunch of smoke bombs, and three Sakura's jumped out of the smoke.

_All three of these Sakuras are mizu bunshins meaning the real Sakura is hiding somewhere. From the way she's been fighting, I doubt she's simply hiding. She's probably trying to buy time for something, I need to be quick about this. _

In a matter of minutes Sasuke destroyed the three water clones using Susanoo's chakra blade. Scanning the area for any sign of her, he noticed a small hole and fired one of Susanoo's arrows into it. As the arrow hit the ground Sakura popped out 10 feet to the left and began gathering chakra into her fist. Her fist looked like a giant blue fireball.

_Looks like she's going to come at me with one last desperation attack. Ok Sakura let's see what you can do._

Before he could react, Sakura had already launched her chakra covered fist into Susanoo. Sasuke felt the strain on his ultimate technique, and struggled to keep it from breaking. He nearly breathed a sigh of relief as Sakura's fist bounced back, and his former fangirl leapt back. She was panting for air, and barely seemed to be able to stand on her shaky legs.

He smirked. "You did much better than I ever would have expected Sakura. But in the end, you weren't strong enough to defeat me. You were foolish to try to take me, an Uchiha, on by yourself."

He prepared an arrow to deliver the final blow. A small part of him didn't want to kill her; he hesitated for a split second.

_No! She's of Konoha. Like the dobe, she is now one of my more powerful enemies. I have to kill her for the sake of the Uchiha clan!_

Sasuke released the arrow. Time seemed to slow down as the arrow hurtled toward the pink-haired kunoichi, certain to send her to her death. Just before the arrow reached her, a new chakra seemed to explode around her.

The newly revitalized Sakura dodged the arrow with a surprised look on her face.

* * *

Minato watched the tears fall from his son's eyes as his wife disappeared. "Don't worry Naruto, you'll see her again."

The boy merely nodded at him before turning his attention back to the pedestal. Minato blocked his way. "Our discussion isn't over son. What's the true reason you gave up? The Naruto I watched grow up, the Naruto I stopped from unsealing the Kyubi, he would never give up."

"You said you've been watching me my entire life, so shouldn't you know already?" Naruto softly spat.

"We have been. But the past couple of weeks your mom, Jiraiya-sensi and I have been a little busy. We had something we needed to set up, and it took all of our time. We weren't able to check in on you since then."

"I've told you enough already of why I'm here. I don't want to talk about this anymore." The younger blonde said bitterly turning to walk away.

"You're not going to get away that easily gaki." Jiraiya responded blocking his path. "We need to know what happened so we can help you."

"WHO SAID I WANT ANY HELP?" Naruto bellowed. "MY LIFE HAS BEEN A LITERAL HELL. BUT HERE..." both his face and voice softend. "Here I am finally happy. I have a family..." the younger blonde's face hardened again. "WHY WOULD I POSSIBLY WANT ANY HELP TO GO BACK DOWN THERE?"

"The one you love isn't up here, she's down there." His father softly replied, motioning towards the pedestal.

"I will never have the one I love father. I've accepted that, and it's fine."

"What are you talking about gaki? The week before we started preparing things Sakura was…"

"Jiraiya-sensei." Minato interrupted. "It's not nice to spill someone's secrets. But really Naruto, what makes you think you will never be with Sakura? Before we started preparing things, Sakura really did seem to be warming up to you."

"I… thought so too." Minato's son replied with his shoulders slumped and eyes downcast. For the past month I've been having these dreams of Sakura loving me, and then lately there was one where she told me she was going to be able to tell me the truth soon."

Minato simply nodded, motioning for his son to continue.

"Then we finally went out on a date. Me. On a date. With Sakura-chan. Everything was just so perfect, she was holding my arm, kissing me on the cheek…"

A lecherous grin spread across Jiraiya's face as he took out a little noteback. Seeing this, Minato sweat-dropped and batted the book away.

"Then she told me… she told me that there's something she had been wanting to tell me for a while now. That it was finally time to tell me the truth. It seemed so perfect, it seemed **too** pefect… and it was."

Both Jiraiya and Minato fixed the boy with a confused look.

"She said I annoyed her, she would always love Sasuke and never love me. She explained to me that she put up with me because I was her pet demon who was going to bring Sasuke back. But now that I was preparing to kill Sasuke, she couldn't let that happen. She didn't care if I died, but she couldn't let me kill Sasuke." Naruto said as tears he had been fighting back fell from his eyes.

Minato's fist clenched, he hated to see his son in pain. It was one thing to watch from heaven and not be able to do anything about it, but seeing his son directly in front of him, crying, and not being able to come up with anything to help him, that killed him.

Jiraiya's pensive gaze fell upon the pedestal. Where Sakura had been and still was fighting Sasuke like she was possessed by a demon. _This doesn't add up…_

"Then she told me that she didn't want to see me ever again, to leave Konoha and never return. She told me that I am the Kyubi, and that I don't deserve happiness, only misery…"

Minato's fist unclenched. He had been becoming increasingly suspicious as Naruto recalled the tale. From what he had seen of Sakura from watching Naruto's life, the girl truly cared about his son. Truth be told, she actually reminded him a little of Kushina. She had a caring heart and a fiery temper. Although from what he had seen, she could punch a little harder than Kushina.

"And after that, I left Konoha. Sasuke found me and told me he was taking me to the Akatsuki. I no longer cared, I just wanted everything to end, so I followed him to my death."

"Naruto… that story seems off." Jiraiya said.

"That's what happened pervy sage! I'm not lying!"

"I never said you were lying Naruto. Just something seems off with that story. I can't believe Sakura would do that of her own free will."

"You didn't see the look on her face pervy sage, I could tell that she meant every word she said…" the sad blonde softly whispered.

"I'm sure there's some sort of explanation Naruto. Besides, you don't give up, isn't that your ninja way? It's time you get back to the world of the living son." Came Minato's strong voice.

"I placed a terrible burden on you Naruto, but you can handle it, you **are** your mother's son afterall." The former hokage said with a wink. "Now come, let's get you back down there where you belong."

"I'm not going back dad…"

* * *

Wow, those 5,282 words came much quicker than I thought… I had originally intended to end the Sasuke/Sakura fight this chapter, but by the time I got to a point where I could, it was either cut the fight short, or put the full length conclusion in the next chapter. So stay tuned for the next one for the conclusion of Sasuke vs. Sakura

Anywho, some random notes. I gave Sakura an affinity with the water element, as it seems to fit with a healer, and it's not unreasonable to think she could utilize her water nature chakra with the training of Yamoto. I wanted her to have a way to attack from a distance that wasn't her punching into the ground so you didn't have to keep reading, "then sakura slammed her fist into the ground and Sasuke was like, "ohhhh damn, here comes another slab of Earth at me."

The whole.. "Ttebayo" thing... In all honesty, I don't get it. A google search claimed it translated to something like, "eh" in English, but I liked how Naruto and Kushina had the same speech idioms in common when they met in the manga. It was kind of cute, so I kept it. Since I don't really understand it, I didn't really use it much out of the stuff I took from the manga.

Jutsu list:

Hakkesho Kaiten- Heavenly spin.

Suiton: Mizu no Muchi- Water release: water whip

Suiton: Teppodama- Water release: gunshot

Mizu-bunshin no jutsu- Water clone technique

Sasai chakra no jutsu- Chakra regeneration technique

Rirusu- Release


	7. Warmth

And… here's chapter 7. It's a lengthy one, but I think (hope) you'll enjoy it!

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far! Motivation is good!

Shout out to those that have reviewed since last time: Echo Uchiha, Mitzzi, cmcwiki, Bikiluf, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, dbzgtfan2004,GraysonPaladin, bankai777, Toasty Warrior, Serenity Namikaze

Echo Uchiha: right? His mom goes and gives him this big inspiring speech and then he goes and ignores it. *slap head*

Mitzzi: /e whistles and looks away innocently

cmcwiki: hehe, Naruto certainly needs a kick in the pants from someone. Sheesh! /e whistles and looks away innocently in regards to the second part of your review.

Bikiluf: Naruto will definitely get the Kyubi back. How? Who knows. Also, thank you for the explanation, it was much appreciated =)

Kyuubi Loves NaruSaku: I actually have never watched any of the Avatar series. I thought about it, then saw the awful reviews from the movie and decided against it. I know I know, the movie is awful and the anime is awesome, just never gotten around to it since then. I suppose great minds think alike though if their water person is a healer =P

dbzgtfan2004: /e salutes

GraysonPaladin: lmao at "Duckbutt McBastard pants" Thanks :D

bankai777: I consider the Kyubi a sort of "bloodline" for Naruto. I don't plan on giving him anything else for this story as he's got everything he needs to save the world… eventually =P

Toasty Warrior: Thanks! I think Sakura wants all the Sasuke ass-whoopin' for herself though ;)

Serenity Namikaze: Thanks! Minor spoiler: this chapter contains more touching and sweet moments :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Shikamaru would be in every single manga/anime episode because he is awesome. Even if it would be troublesome for him to always be around.

Alright, enough rambling. Onwards to the story! Please do enjoy, "A Jinchuriki's Husk"- Chapter 7: Warmth

* * *

Ino stared at the large wall separating her and her best friend. On the other side of that wall Sakura was fighting Sasuke. The platinum blonde hadn't personally seen Sasuke since he left Konoha all those years ago, but from what she had heard; the Uchiha had reached a whole new level of power.

While Sakura had become powerful kunoichi, Ino knew that Sakura wouldn't be able to beat Sasuke on her own. The mindwalker closed her eyes, focusing on the two chakra signatures on the other side of the wall. She shuddered as she felt Sasuke's chakra, it felt so… dark and foreboding. It was hard to believe that years ago, the owner of that sinister chakra was the object of her affection.

Sasuke's chakra was lower than she expected, but he still seemed to have plenty left. Her former rival's chakra level on the other hand was low. Just judging from the two combatant's chakra levels, it was only a matter of time until Sasuke came out on top.

Sakura needed a miracle.

Suddenly Sakura level spiked, causing Ino to gasp.

_What's going on?_

_

* * *

_

Tsunade stared at the wall her student created, her mind struggling to figure out a way to get to her student.

_Sakura is nearly out of chakra… We're out of time, we need to get to her now._

Tsunade's fist clenched into a tight ball.

The Hokage started running towards the wall, preparing herself to fight her way through a wall of roots, but stopped abruptly when she felt a surge of chakra from Sakura.

_I recognize this chakra… it's been a long time, but this unique chakra is chakra I'll never forget. But how is this possible?_

The Hokage continued staring at the wall, as the face of a woman with long beautiful red hair flashed through her mind.

_Thank you._

_

* * *

_

"NANI?" both Minato and Jiraiya gasped out.

"I'm not going back. I'm happy here." Naruto replied with a calm non-wavering voice.

"Did you listen to anything your mother said before she left? Naruto, you're needed down there. Your friends need you, the entire world needs you. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you stay here." Minato replied, voice the exact same as his son's.

"Give up dad, there's nothing you can say or do that will make me go back."

Minato looked at his sensei and smirked, "To quote a book both you and I treasure… 'Give up… on me giving up.'"

Sapphire eyes clashed with sapphire eyes. Blonde spiky hair swayed in the wind. Father and son's muscles began tensing, both watching the other waiting for the first move to be made.

"Whoah whoah whoah. Calm down now you too. Let's try a different approach before you start fighting, you should really conserve your chakra for now Minato, you're going to need it soon." Jiraiya intervened.

Minato relaxed his stance. "What do you have in mind sensei?"

"Naruto, come over here. I want to show you some things. I've had enough of you thinking people hate you."

Naruto, still tense, eyed his father before joining his master by the pedestal. As he approached, Jiraiya dipped his finger in the water and swirled it a little.

"What happened to the fight between Sasuke and Sakura-chan?" the Toad Sannin's apprentice asked in a confused tone.

"That's not what I want to show you right now. This is Konoha when Shizune was informing the villagers what was going on. Take a look."

Naruto peered down into the water, where Shizune stood addressing a crowd of villagers.

_In Konoha_

"_I've called this meeting because I feel everyone in this village has a right to know why our Hokage currently isn't here. Sasuke Uchiha infiltrated Konoha and captured Naruto Uzumaki."_

_Gasps sounded off amongst the crowd._

"_How did he get Naruto?"_

"_Is Naruto ok?"_

"_That bastard! How could he do that to one of the few people who hasn't given up on him?"_

Naruto gasped as he heard the villagers' responses. He expected them to curse him for making the Hokage leave the village.

"The villagers… actually care about me?" the startled blonde sputtered.

"Keep watching gaki."

"_We're not sure of Naruto's condition. We know that Sasuke was able to capture Naruto using psychological tactics. The Hokage, along with the rest of the rookie 9, Team Guy, Team 7, and Iruka Umino are currently following Naruto's trail. I will do my best to keep you all informed as I get information. That is all." Shizune finished as she turned around to walk back into the Hokage's office._

"_Damnit! If something happens to Naruto I'll hunt that Uchiha down myself!" _

"_I wish that Uchiha would try infiltrating Konoha again so I could personally show him what happens when you mess with one of Konoha's own!"_

Tears were falling down Naruto's face as he listened to the villager's words.

"See Gaki? The villagers don't view you as a demon. They see you as one of their own. Do you really want to sit up here while Madara destroys them?"

Naruto gave no response as he just continued staring into the pool dumbfounded. Jiraiya stuck his finger in the water, and again swirled. Naruto watched as the picture changed to a battlefield, similar to the one Sakura was on.

"What's this pervy sage?" he questioned in a neutral tone.

"When all of your friends found out you were captured they came charging after the Akatsuki to rescue you. They're all fighting to save you."

Naruto watched as his friends and precious people fought against overwhelming numbers. There were no hints of fear in their eyes, no hints of doubt, only determination. Their posture screamed, 'I'm not going to lose here, I'm going to save Naruto.' A small smile found its way on his face as a wave of sand announced Gaara and the sand siblings entrance in the battle.

"They're fighting… for me…" he whispered. He watched as Jiraiya again swirled the liquid, and once again the battle between his two teammates.

_Sasuke and Sakura's battle_

"_Naruto's come a long way since you were with us Sasuke, the village respects…" Sakura started._

"_Madara has been draining Naruto of the Kyubi for a while now," Sasuke interrupted. "The dobe is probably already dead, and if he's not, he will be soon."_

_When Sakura heard these words, she became enraged. A very frightening and powerful wave of killing intent flowed out of her into Sasuke. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"_

Naruto watched in amazement as Sakura attacked Sasuke like she was possessed by a demon.

"Sakura-chan is fighting Sasuke… because of me?"

"That's right gaki, looks like Sakura loves you after all. So, I think it's about time you get back down there to **your** Sakura-"chan" don't you?" the Sannin finished with a lecherous wink.

Warmth flooded through Naruto's body as the realization set in. He wasn't alone, he wasn't hated, his friends truly cared about him, Sakura loved him. His life hadn't been a literal hell, his life had been…perfect. He smiled.

_I can't believe I had a perfect… wait a second…_

_FLASHBACK_

"_Naruto, I… There's something I need to tell you. I've been wanting to say this for a while now… It's finally time to tell you the truth." Naruto turned and looked straight into Sakura's eyes._

_FLASH IN_

_This is… just like then. Everything seemed too perfect. This is too perfect…_

"This… isn't real." Naruto stated finishing his thought.

An exasperated Jiraiya sighed at him, "Naruto, everything you just saw was real…"

"NO! Everything I just saw was too perfect. You somehow found a way to make me see what I wanted to see. I remember my life down there, it was not like that!"

Jiraiya was about to reply, but was interrupted with a sigh from his other present student.

"Naruto, what you saw was real. Jiraiya-sensei didn't make you see what you wanted to see. You saw reality. Now come on, it's time we get you back down there."

"I told you, I'm not going. I'm happy here." Came his son's determined reply. Matching sapphire eyes again clashed, but this time the former Hokage smirked.

"You know Naruto, I've watched you your entire life. And I am proud of the man you've grown up into. The man you've become is strong, compassionate, caring, brave, intelligent, and never gives up. But I've noticed one flaw that seems to have persisted throughout your life. It's not the worst flaw, it's actually kind of amusing."

"You've never been good at understanding things from words alone. No, you son," a soft smile flicked across Minato's face as he drew out a three-pronged kunai. "You learn best through hands-on application. You're the kind of guy that learns best in a fight." As the Yondaime finished, he threw the kunai so that it landed just behind Naruto, and disappeared in a yellow flash.

* * *

Sakura dodged Susanoo's arrow as she felt the new chakra surge through her body.

_What is this? This chakra feels almost exactly like Naruto's chakra… But this chakra is slightly different._

Sakura was brought out of her shock as Sasuke launched another arrow at her. She again dodged, marveling at the power of the chakra that was now running through her body. Suddenly images of a woman with long flowing red hair, shooting chains out of her body.

Confused, Sakura just followed her body's instincts and pink chakra chains shot out of her body and wrapped around Sasuke's Susanoo.

"What the hell is this?" Sasuke yelled as he struggled against his chains._ These chains are made of chakra, how his this possible? _The avenger screamed in his mind, trying to come up with a way to break them.

Sakura, for her part, would not have been able to give Sasuke an answer had she wanted to. She didn't know how she knew this technique, but she wasn't complaining. _Ok, I've got it restrained, now let's see what these things can do.  
_

Sakura used her chakra control to send her newly acquired chakra through the chains, tightening each and every single link. She watched with a satisfied smirk as Sasuke's Susanoo began faltering under the tightening chains. _Just a little more…_

Sakura focused more of her chakra on tightening the chains. Suddenly, Sasuke's Susanoo's armor faded, leaving muscle and bones. _Almost there!_ The muscle disappeared, leaving only a rib cage. Sakura sent one last surge of chakra tightening chains and Sasuke's Susanoo completely disappeared. As she went to wrap the chains around Sasuke himself, he flickered out of the way.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" Sasuke screamed. "Susanoo in its completed form is unbeatable. It's invincible. There's no way that you should have been able to beat it!"

"Aww Sasuke, you're making me sound like Naruto." She sweetly replied. Noticing the blood running down his left eye, she smirked. "You don't look so good Sasuke-**kun**."

"SHUT UP!" the avenger yelled leaping forward with his chidori infused kusangi. Sakura tried to catch him with her chakra chains, but he was fast, and dodged or deflected each chain. He flickered right next to her and swiped with his kusanagi.

She leapt to the left, but he still managed to land a slice on her arm. She felt her arm go numb from the chidori current, and leapt backwards. _He's much faster and smaller than Susanoo. I'm not going to be able to catch him with my chakra chains._ She dispelled her chains as Sasuke flickered behind her, attempted to impale her heart.

The Gondaime's apprentice dodged, but Sasuke caught her with a left hook on her jaw that sent her tumbling to the ground. Not wanting to give Sakura time to react, Sasuke formed handseals. Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" sending a volley of small fireballs at the kunoichi.

Sakura swore as she hit the ground, and used her fist to slam an earth wall to block the fireballs. She slammed her fist repeatedly to create a mini earthquake. The pink-haired member of team 7 leapt from behind the wall as Sasuke struggled to maintain his balance. Seeing his former teammate Sasuke leapt into the air, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

"Suiton: Teppodama!" Sakura yelled, shooting a water bullet to intercept Sasuke's fireball. Fire met water, instantly creating steam. Much to Sasuke's surprise, part of Sakura's water bullet made it through his fireball and struck him, knocking him out of his jump. The Uchiha twisted his body around so he landed on his feet, but instantly fell into a rift in the ground created by Sakura's fist.

"Suiton: Mizu no Muchi!" Sakura yelled. The Uchiha let out a cry of pain as she repeatedly struck him with the water whip. Just as she was about to whip him for the fifth time, the avenger channeled chidori around his entire body, Sakura couldn't stop the whip from hitting him. The electricity travelled through the whip and straight into Sakura's body.

She fell to the ground, temporarily paralyzed. Quickly using her chakra to get rid of the paralysis, she couldn't react quick enough as Sasuke leapt out of the rift and shot another fireball at her. Sakura screamed out in pain as the fireball burned her body.

Sasuke flickered in front of her, landing a kick to her ribs that sent her tumbling backwards. He flickered in front of her, preparing to strike the final blow with his kusanagi. Sakura quickly shot chakra chains out of her body, catching Sasuke off guard.

The kunoichi's chakra chains latched around the kusanagi and she ripped it out of Sasuke's hands and into hers. _Maybe I can catch him in these chains now that he doesn't have his sword._ Sakura sent the chains after her former teammate, who simply pulled out a kunai and proceeded to dodge and deflect the chains while closing in on her. Before he could get too close, Sakura stamped her foot into the ground, sending a wall of earth towards Sasuke, forcing him to flip backwards.

Dispelling her chains, Sakura grabbed kusanagi's blade, and with chakra enhanced strength snapped it in two pieces.

"YOU BITCH!" Sasuke yelled seeing his favorite sword snapped in two like it was a pretzel. Sakura smirked,

"Oh so sorry, did I break your favorite toy?"

Sasuke growled in response, and shot ameratsu out of his eye. Sakura dodged, but gasped as the flames changed course and followed her. Swearing to herself, she pushed more chakra into her legs and sped up. The black flames followed her as she continued attempting to dodge them. She caught sight of her former teammate.

_He seems so… focused. Is he controlling the flames?_ Sakura sent chakra chains at Sasuke, who yet again dodged. As Sakura expected, the flames stopped following her, and hit a few trees setting them aflame. The kunoichi again dispelled the chains. Pumping chakra into her legs, she surged forward, catching Sasuke off guard as she caught him in the jaw with a punch. Sasuke bounced across the ground from the force of the punch, and as he skidded to a stop Sakura appeared above him, slamming a chakra-enhanced knee into his gut. Sasuke coughed up blood as he attempted to get up, but his former fangirl kicked him in the face, again sending him flying.

Twisting the air, Sasuke threw a barrage of shuriken at Sakura and yelled, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Sakura was forced to halt her attack, and slam an earth wall up to shield her from the mass of shurikens.

After the wall blocked the shurikens, Sakura cracked it and yelled, "Kaze no Bakehutsu!" the blast of wind that shot out of her palms sent small, sharp pieces of rock towards the Uchiha.

Sasuke smirked, "That's not going to catch me off guard twice!" The avenger made quick handsigns, forming the chidori in his hand. He threw a wave of chidori senbon to negate the attack. He threw another wave of chidori senbon at Sakura who pushed more chakra into her legs to leap out of the way.

A gentle breeze blew across the battlefield as the two exhausted sannin's apprentices stared each other down.

_Damnit, who ever would have thought Sakura would have been able to take me this far? I only have enough chakra left for one more attack. From the looks of her, she's exhausted most of that other chakra she's been using._

"We're both almost out of chakra. What do you say Sakura, why don't we end this fight now?" Sasuke called out.

* * *

Before Naruto could react, he felt his father's fist colliding with the back of his head. Taking out a three-pronged kunai of his own, he threw it and used the hirashin to escape before his father could land another blow. Much to Naruto's surprise, Minato appeared right behind him, landing a kick to his stomach, sending him tumbling.

_How did he just reach me? He didn't throw another kunai…_

Minato smiled at his son, as he got to his feet. "Come on Naruto, did you really think I wouldn't be able to teleport to your kunai? Those seals on it are exactly the same as mine."

"Kuso…" _how did I not think about that? Damnit!_ _He knows more about the hirashin than I do, I'm not going to be able to beat him with it. I need a different advantage if I'm going to beat him, I need sage mode. I just need to stall him now._

"I guess that was kind of foolish of me to think huh dad?" he grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Care to tell me how the seal works? I've only copied it directly from your old kunai." Naruto then stood perfectly still, drawing in nature chakra.

"Good try Naruto, but I know about your sage mode." Minato flashed right behind a startled Naruto, kneeing him in the gut. He put a hand on his son's shoulder, "I'm not going to give you time to enter sage mode."

"How… how did you just do that? I didn't throw a kunai, there's no kunai near me!"

"You have more three-pronged kunai in your pack Naruto."

_KUSO! _ "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" 100 shadow clones formed a ring around father and son. Each clone took out a three pronged kunai. "Let's see how you do against this dad!"

The clones began throwing the kunai back in forth between the two, catching a kunai, and throwing it back into the fray.

_Impressive and brilliant. He creates a ring around himself and his opponent using kage bunshins, then has them fill the area with three pronged kunai so he can essentially teleport anywhere in the ring at anytime making it nearly impossible to predict his movements. This technique requires his clones to throw each kunai with perfect precision, as one kunai striking another would disrupt the flow and his opponent would be able to start predicting his movements. What's more, in addition to having to throw each kunai with perfect precision, each clone has to catch the kunai and instantly throw it again._

_This is a great technique to beat a sharingan user, good job Naruto. _Minato smiled and disappeared in a yellow flash of his own. Father and son flashed about the clone ring, neither able to land a blow. _This is a genius technique Naruto, but it won't work on another hirashin user. Time to end this._ Minato flashed to a clone that had just caught a kunai, and destroyed it. Without missing a beat, he flashed to Naruto and slammed his son into the ground.

As the clone ring destroyed itself, Naruto gasped, "How?"

"Your technique is very impressive Naruto. But it's still no match for the 2nd level of hirashin." Getting a confused look from his son, Minato pointed to the boy's shoulder. Naruto gasped again when he saw a seal where his father had touched him earlier.

"You can't beat me now Naruto. I can teleport to you instantly. Give up, this fight is over."

"Give up…" Naruto whispered, "ON ME GIVING UP!" he finished with a yell.

* * *

Kakashi stirred, his body felt like he got hit by both Tsunade and Sakura's fists at once. He groaned as he opened his eyes. Getting his bearings, he glanced around at his companions. _Looks like the sand siblings joined the battle, that's good news for us._ _Everyone still looks exhausted though. _

His eyes fell upon the wall his pink-haired student had created at the start of the battle.

_Sakura!_

The copy nin scanned surrounding area for Sakura, but could not find her. _She's still fighting Sasuke. Hang on Sakura, I'm coming!_

Kakashi leapt to his feet, drawing the attention of the Konoha and Suna shinobi. _I haven't regained much chakra, but I have enough to get in one raikiri. I'm going to have to sneak up on Sasuke to make sure it counts._ He started sprinting toward the wall.

"Kakashi stop!" the Hokage ordered, causing the copy nin to stop and give her a confused look.

"Hokage-sama, Sakura is still fighting Sasuke by herself. I'm not sure why you guys haven't gone to her aid yet, but she can't beat him alone. So I'm going to go help her."

"A black Zetsu is in that wall, and is using a powerful root wall to keep us from getting through or around that wall. It said that Madara requested no one interfere with the fight, and that the Zetsu would kill anyone who tries." Shikamaru said.

"Damnit… there has to be a way around that. I don't know how long Sakura can last alone against Sasuke…"

"She's not alone Kakashi." The last remaining sannin said calmly.

"NANI?" all of the Konoha and Suna nin gasped at once.

"What are you talking about Hokage-sama? All of our team is on this side of the wall, who could be fighting with her right now?"

Tsunade looked directly into his eyes, smile present on her face. "Kushina Namikaze." She stated simply.

"NANI?" the Konoha and Suna nin gasped yet again.

"Sensei's wife? But Hokage-sama… she died on **that** die along with sensei… How could she possibly be fighting with Sakura?"

"I'm not sure Kakashi. But she was a smart woman, and her husband was a genius himself."

Kakashi nodded his head, and stared at the wall, his mind lost in thought.

* * *

"Ironic isn't it Sasuke? Me, who you always called a burden has forced you to resort to one final attack to finish our battle."

"Hhn, shut up and prepare to die." The avenger replied. He formed handsigns, and a chidori formed around his hand.

_Damnit, I don't have any jutsu that can go up against that…_ Sakura thought. Suddenly a memory popped into her mind.

_FLASHBACK_

_A young Naruto stood in front of Sakura protectively staring at an enemy jounin that had managed to separate the pair from Kakashi._

"_Give up kid and I'll make both of your deaths quick." The man sneered._

_Naruto's response was muttering, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A shadow clone appeared next to Naruto. Her teammate seamed to focus on forming a powerful sphere of chakra, while the clone focused on rotating the sphere._

"_What the…" the man began to say, but was interrupted by Naruto's yell, "RASENGAN!" Her blonde teammate shoved the ball into the man's gut sending him crashing into a tree, a strange spiral wound on his stomach._

_Sakura remembered seeing Naruto use that jutsu on the roof while fighting Sasuke, but it was the first time she had actually seen him create it and hit his opponent with it._

Without thinking Sakura held out her hand, and began forming what remained of her chakra into the a sphere, while using her excellent chakra control to spin it.

Sasuke's eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he saw the familiar chakra sphere. Nostalgia swept through him as he realized this was exactly how his battle at the Valley of the End with Naruto ended. Except Sakura's rasengan was larger, it was the size of a small basketball.

"So… the dobe taught you his favorite move? I'm surprised, I didn't think you had the chakra to use it."

His opponent smirked at him, "Not exactly, I just sort of figured it out. Now let's end this… SASUKE!" she yelled charging towards him.

Time slowed down, he started running towards her. Memories of his time in team 7 began flashing through his mind, their bell test, hunting down Tora the cat, their mission in the wave… Sasuke was about to kill one of the people who saved him from his loneliness, the girl who always cheered him on.

_I… I can't do this. _

As the two former teammates met, Sakura slammed the rasengan into Sasuke's chest screaming "RASENGAN!" In that split second, the avenger could have thrust his chidori through the girl's chest, but he instead he allowed his chidori to dissipate. He couldn't hold back his cry of pain as the sphere twisted away at his stomach.

He coughed up blood. _So this is it._ He looked up to see his former teammate shakily standing over him. She was breathing heavily, it looked like the rasengan took everything out of her.

"I know that you hate me for what I did, but for what it's worth… I'm sorry." The dying Uchiha gasped out.

"Tell me Sasuke… was walking the path of the avenger worth it?"

He looked into her emerald eyes, "I know you will never understand. But it's the only path I could have ever walked. But you've stopped me now." For the first time in his life, Sasuke Uchiha gave Sakura Haruno a real, large, genuine smile.

"Thank you… Sakura." His eyes closed for the last time, and Sasuke Uchiha, the "last" Uchiha, the avenger, died.

Sakura looked down at her former teammate as tears slowly fell from her eyes. Even though she hated him for what he did to Naruto, he was still her old teammate, her old friend. _He could've killed me with his chidori, but he held back at the last second. Naruto will be happy to hear that he chose our bonds in the end._

Sakura started stumbling away from the body of her former teammate, before passing out.

* * *

Tsunade was calmly staring at her apprentice's wall, when the black Zetsu slinked out.

"Hokage-sama, Madara-sama would like to thank you for training your apprentice so well. She was able to save Madara-sama the trouble of killing Sasuke, who had outlived his usefulness." Having said what it needed to say, the black Zetsu disappeared again into the wall.

Everyone gasped as roots shot out of the ground and destroyed the wall.

"Neji, Hinata, see if you can find any trace of the black Zetsu." Shikamaru ordered. Both Hyuugas activated their byukugans, and began scanning the area. The two found no trace of the Zetsu. Not that Tsunade cared. She wasn't focused on them, she was focused on the form of her apprentice, on the ground.

"Sakura!" she yelled as both she and Kakashi rushed to the girl's side.

"Is she going to be alright Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked in a concerned voice.

"She'll be fine Kakashi, she's just exhausted from her battle." Tsunade replied, as she began healing Sakura.

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief, and began walking towards the body of his other student. As he reached Sasuke's body, he was surprised to see a large smile on the boy's face.

"Was the Zetsu telling the truth Kakashi?" the Hokage asked, as she continued her healing.

"Hai… Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied in a sad, soft voice. "Sasuke Uchiha… is dead."

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes and gasped. She was in a bright meadow, filled with cherry blossoms. Taking in her surroundings, she spotted her inner sitting underneath one of the many trees.

"What are you doing here? Where are we?" she asked her inner.

"**We are in your mind."** Her inner replied casually.

"How did I get here? Did you call me here?"

"**Nope, she did." **Her inner pointed behind Sakura. **"Go talk to her, she really wants to meet you."**

Turning around, Sakura noticed a beautiful woman with long red hair that swayed in the gentle breeze. She had a perfect figure, and her eyes were a brilliant sapphire blue… just like Naruto's.

"You! I saw an image of you while fighting Sasuke, are you the one who helped me?"

"Yep!" the woman beamed. "Minato and I couldn't let you die, and I was the only one that could use his jutsu to get here."

"What? Who's Minato? What jutsu? Who are you?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you my name didn't I?" the woman sheepishly grinned, scratching the back of her head. "My name is Kushina Namikaze. Wife of Minato Namikaze, mother of Naruto Namikaze. Well, I guess you would still know him as Naruto Uzumaki at this point."

"You're Naruto's mother? Naruto's the Yondaime's son?"

Kushina continued smiling her. "Yes and yes. Believe it!"

"What jutsu were you talking about, why were you the only one that could use it, and why couldn't you and the Yondaime let me die?" Sakura stuttered, still trying to wrap her mind over the entire situation.

"Hmm, where to begin. Well… Minato managed to outsmart the shinigami, and escaped with the rest of the souls of Konoha's Hokages into heaven. Kami was so impressed with Minato that he allowed Minato certain privileges. He let Minato start experimenting with new jutsus, and eventually Minato created some jutsus that we would be able to use from heaven to help Naruto on Earth."

Sakura dumbly nodded, still striving her best to comprehend all the information she was taking in.

"The jutsu I specifically used, allowed me to pour all of my chakra that I had while I was living, into you. And it also allowed me to influence your memories while you were using my chakra. So I used my and your memories to teach you the chakra chains and the rasengan," Kushina paused. "Consider those an early wedding gift." She winked. Sakura blushed.

"I was the only one who could use this jutsu because it can only be used by a mother on a woman who loves her son. As to why we couldn't let you die… Minato and I have watched Naruto his entire life. It's easy to see how much he loves you… and that you love him too." Kushina smiled warmly at her.

"We couldn't let you die, because you are family. It's only a matter of time before you're our daughter-in-law after all!" Kushina again winked, causing her "future daughter-in-law" to blush even harder.

"An added perk to the jutsu is that it allows me to bring you into your own mind after you're finished using my chakra, so I can actually meet you in person."

"Thank you Kushina-san…"

"San? No need for that, just call me Kushina!"

"Hai… thank you Kushina."

"No problem Sakura." Kushina's pleasant smile turned into an intimidating frown, and killer intent began to radiate from the woman. "But if you ever hurt my son, I'll make you regret it ttebayo!" Kushina intended for the comment to be more of a light-hearted joke, and was concerned when she saw her future daughter-in-law's face fall.

"I'm afraid I've already hurt him… I…"

"Do you love my son Sakura?" Kushina interrupted, determined to put a smile back on the face of the pink-haired girl. _This is supposed to be a pleasant meeting after all…_

"Of course!" the girl quickly replied.

"Then I know that you would never purposefully hurt him." Kushina's smile caused a warmth to spread through Sakura's entire body.

"But Kushina… I still hurt him. Sasuke controlled me, and forced me to crush his heart." Sakura whimpered, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

Kushina however, would have none of it. "It doesn't matter, if you love him, you will heal him. If you love him, you will be the one to make him happy ttebayo!"

Sakura looked into the beautiful sapphire eyes of her future-mother-in law. "Do you really believe it?"

"Of course!" the Namikaze woman yelled. "I'm certain you're going to be a Namikaze woman eventually, you're the one for my son. And I honestly couldn't have picked out a better woman for him. You're a lot like me." She gave Sakura a lopsided grin.

The pink-haired girl couldn't resist smiling at Kushina's words and lunged forward, catching the woman in a tight embrace. "Thank you so much Kushina!"

"Don't worry about it dear. As much as I would like to stay here, it looks like we need to bring this meeting to an end. Your friends are waiting for you to wake up. Now go wake up so you can get my baka of a son!"

"HAI… Oka-san." Sakura smiled at the woman, and Kushina smiled back.

"Oh wait, a few more things! First, once you wake up you won't have access to my chakra anymore. But since your body housed my chakra which is far larger than yours, you will find that your chakra pool has significantly increased."

"SHANAROO!" Sakura fist-pumped causing Kushina to chuckle.

"You now know the chakra chains, and the rasengan and will be able to use them without my help. By the way, I was impressed with the chakra control you showed in tightening each individual link. I always just used the chains to hold down… a certain something. You were actually able to use it as a weapon, very impressive!"

Sakura blushed at the compliment as Kushina continued.

"And lastly, and most importantly, take care of my baka of a son." She finished, smiling at Sakura, as she wrapped her in another hug.

"I will Oka-san, that's a promise of a lifetime."

Kushina smiled at her one last time, before pushing her back into consciousness.

* * *

Tsunade watched her unconscious apprentice's face curiously. Her face contorted from surprised, to more surprised, to sad, to unbelievably happy. A peaceful, content grin adorned her features as her eyes slowly flitted open.

"Sakura!" the Hokage yelled catching the pink-haired girl in an embrace. "You're awake!"

"Hai shishou."

"Looks like you were able to beat Sasuke after all. I'm very proud of you Sakura." The master beamed at the apprentice.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama. I didn't do it alone though. Naruto's mom helped me." Her apprentice replied with a gentle smile on her face.

"How?" the Hokage inquired, already knowing of Kushina's involvement.

"She was able to use a jutsu to give me her chakra, and I got to meet her afterwards. I got to meet Naruto's mom! She was so beautiful and kind." Her face suddenly became serious.

"But we can talk about that later, for now we need to go to Naruto!"

"Right. EVERYONE!" the Hokage bellowed getting the attention of all of the Konoha and Suna nin. "We're going to rescue Naruto now, let's go!"

The tired mini-army walked towards the Akatsuki base.

* * *

Naruto was slammed into the ground yet again. He couldn't figure out a way to get rid of the seal his father had placed on him. His entire body ached, but he wouldn't stop. He would not let his dad force him back to that life. His place was here. He could not lose, he **would** not lose.

"WHY ARE YOU SO DESPERATE TO SEND ME BACK? DON'T YOU WANT ME HERE WITH YOU AND MOM?" that frustrated blonde boy yelled.

His father's face softened. "Naruto… Of course I want you to be with your mother and I. It would be so great to finally have us all together… as a family. But I know you Naruto, you'e my son afterall. You and I are the same. We are both guardians."

The battered and exhausted son charged and threw a punch at his father. Minato simply caught Naruto's fist and pulled his son into a hug.

"You and I both exist to protect others. If you give up now, and let all of your precious people, and all of the people in the world down, you will hate yourself for the rest of eternity. Nartuo Namikaze, your destiny down there isn't finished yet."

Naruto sobbed in his father's embrace. "But what if I fail dad… what if…"

Minato put his hand on his son's head and smiled warmly at him. "Didn't I tell you already Naruto? I have faith in you. You won't fail."

Naruto's tears stopped as he smiled at his father. "Thanks dad…"

"Minato! Naruto! Get over here. You need to see this." Jiraiya yelled to his apprentices as he stared into the pedestal with a worried look on his face.

* * *

Sakura led the way through the Akatsuki base, desperate to get to Naruto. After meeting his mother, and being called her future daughter-in-law, Sakura was even more anxious to retrieve her knucklehead. She zigzagged through each corridor on sheer instinct, she just knew where Naruto was, she couldn't really explain it.

The mini-army stopped in front of a large set of doors. _Here we go… please be ok Naruto…._ She pushed the doors open, and strode into a room, that contained the statue she had seen when they rescued Gaara from the Akatsuki. A large, cold knot formed in her stomach.

"Oh my! This is truly a great day." Came the unnerving voice of a man wearing an orange swirling mask. "I get someone to kill Sasuke for me, the Hokage AND the Kazekage come to ME so I can kill them, AND I extracted the Kyubi!"

The Konoha and Suna shinobi felt a cold sweat drip down their backs when Madara said he extracted the Kyubi.

Sakura scanned the room, her eyes falling on the body of her knucklehead. The stiff, completely unmoving body of her…

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

6,317 words! Man what a long chapter! For the second chapter in a row, I wrote more than I originally intended which forced me to push some things to the next chapter. But oh well. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this chapter, and I hope it made up for all the sad stuff that's been going on since the third chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. See you next time =)

Jutsu list:

Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu- Fire release: Phoenix Sage Flower

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu- Fire release: Great Fireball Technique

Suiton: Teppodama- Water release: gunshot

Suiton: Mizu no Muchi- Water release: water whip

Kaze no Bakehutsu: Windblast


	8. Like Parents Like Son

Chapter 8! Wooooo, getting closer to the finish!

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far! Motivation is good!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed since last time: holydemon90, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, Echo Uchiha, cmcwiki, Serenity Namikaze, Grayon Paladin, Bilkiluf, TheRealLifeAlucard, Toasty Warrior

holydemon90: Ya... the things Minato can do last chapter and (this chapter) is a stretch, but I wanted family to get Naruto out of his funk... I did not get the inspiration from 300, but now that you mention it I can see the similarities, now I feel clever and artistic =P

Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: Lol at the Chuck Norris entrance. Chuck Norris vs. Madara... that would be an interesting fight.

Echo Uchiha: Agreed!

cmcwiki: Thanks! you've been pretty good with your predictions so far!

Serenity Namikaze: Thanks and you're welcome! =) Naruto will figure out the truth... eventually.. =P

Grayson Paladin: Hahahaha, that's a great clue stick. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will!

Bikiluf: Hmm.. Well as I mentioned before, I wanted Sakura to actually be able to put up a fight against Sasuke. If memory serves correctly, most jounin have trained in their elemental affinities. Sakura is a medinin/genjutsu type yes, but I wouldn't be surprised if she has an affinity to water. Water is soothing, healing is soothing. Bam, match made in heaven. I gave her water manipulation abilities to keep the writing a little more varied than, "Sakura slams fist into the ground... Sakura slams fist into ground again... Sakura slams fist into ground again..." As for the rasengan and chakra chains, all credit goes to Kushina for teaching them to Sakura. The basic rasengan doesn't require a wind affinity, so if Sakura had more chakra (which thanks to Kushina in the fight she does) it would be possible for her to use the rasengan. I didn't change Naruto's name... yet. Just his parents referred to him as Namikaze. That being said, personally I don't see the big deal. Naruto was given the Uzumaki last name so his father's enemies didn't come after him, I don't see the big deal about him accepting his father's name once he's powerful enough to handle himself against them. But to each their own =)

TheRealLifeAlucard: /e salutes

Toasty Warrior: Haha, ya if Naruto was so stubborn he wouldn't be the loveable hard-headed baka that everyone loves! Thanks =)

And without further ado, please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"- Chapter 8: Like Parents Like Son

* * *

Gaara followed Sakura through a pair of large doors and entered a room with a very familiar statue in it. Just looking at the statue caused the young Kazekage to shutter as memories of his own demon extraction coursed through his mind.

"Oh my! This is truly a great day." Came the unnerving voice of Madara Uchiha. "I get someone to kill Sasuke for me, the Hokage AND the Kazekage come to ME so I can kill them, AND I extracted the Kyubi!"

Gaara's eyes flickered to Madara as his words settled in. _He extracted the Kyubi?_

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Gaara's eyes followed the pink-haired kunoichi as she ran over to the body of his friend. A feeling of dread washed over him as he stared at Naruto's stiff, unmoving body.

_This must be what Naruto went through when he came for me._ The Kazekage felt rage bubbling up inside, as he realized that the first person to accept him, the man who saved him from his dark path, was dead. His eyes again returned to the ancient Uchiha, as sand slowly began to pour out of his gourd.

* * *

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the scream came out of her mouth without her mind telling it to. She sprinted towards the body of her teammate, the man who had always been by her side, the man who had always protected her.

Once she reached his body, she sat on the ground by him and instantly scooped him up into her arms, cradling his head into her chest.

"Naruto… please… please don't be dead." Sakura whimpered as she scanned his body for any sign of life. To her sorrow the man she loved had no pulse, his body wasn't cold leading her to believe her knucklehead had just recently died.

_Damnit… if only I had been quicker…_

"Please come back Naruto." The pink-haired kunoichi begged, hoping if she begged hard enough he would return. Tears continued to stream down her face as she buried her head into his hair, begging incoherently, praying for some sort of miracle.

* * *

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sakura screamed. Kakashi watched as Sakura ran towards his blonde-haired student. A cold knot twisted his stomach as he took in Naruto's unmoving form. They had arrived too late, Madara had already extracted the Kyubi from Naruto… _I failed another one…_

Kakashi glanced at Gaara, who was allowing sand to slowly pour out of his gourd, gaze fixed on Madara. _This must be strange for him, to experience this situation as a member of the retrieval team._

_FLASHBACK_

_Kakashi watched as Lady Chiyo walked past a weeping Naruto, and stared down at the lifeless body of Gaara. She sat down and stared at the young Kazekage's corpse more, before putting her hands on his chest. The copy nin watched as she closed her eyes, then opened them again as her hands began pumping blue energy into the deceased kage._

"_Granny Chiyo, that jutsu will…" A concerned Sakura started._

_The old lady simply turned and offered Sakura a smile as she continued her work._

"_Is that…" Guy started to ask._

"_Yeah." Kakashi replied._

"_Hey, what are you doing?" the blonde jinchuriki questioned, starting to move forward. Sakura stopped him by putting a hand on his chest. Sakura looked into Naruto's eyes._

"_She's going to bring Gaara back to life!"_

_FLASH IN_

Kakashi watched as Sakura picked up Naruto's prone form and cradled it against her body, tears streaming down her face, begging the boy to wake up.

_Thank you… Lady Chiyo._ The famous copynin thought as he pulled out three soldier pills and started walking towards his two students. Popping the pills in his mouth, he felt all of his chakra come back.

_Don't worry Sakura, I will not let another one of my comrades die._

_

* * *

_

Jiraiya, Minato and Naruto watched as the team that had come to rescue Naruto entered the chamber where the Kyubi was extracted.

"Shit!" Minato swore. "This isn't good. There's no way any of them can handle Madara in their current conditions."

"Oh my! This is truly a great day. I get someone to kill Sasuke for me, the Hokage AND the Kazekage come to ME so I can kill them, AND I extracted the Kyubi!" Madara taunted.

"Naruto…" Jiraiya started. "We don't have…"

"NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sakura's scream interrupted the Toad Sennin as Naruto stared curiously down at the woman he dedicated his life to. Master and apprentices watched as Sakura clutched Naruto's corpse, begging for him to come back.

"I know what you're going to say pervy sage." The former jinchuriki said, as he tightened his fist into a ball. "And I couldn't agree more, I need to get back down there."

Minato and Jiraiya beamed at Naruto. "Now that's the son I've watched grow up!" Minato said.

"Finally, my baka apprentice is back!" Jiraiya grinned at Naruto.

Naruto smiled briefly, but turned to his father with a serious face. "But I still don't understand how I'm going to get back there. I'm dead dad; the Kyubi was extracted from me."

Minato smiled, "Actually Naruto, you're not dead. Your spirit simply came here because you didn't have the will to keep it down there. Your spirit came here because you **wanted** to come here."

"What… but… how?" Naruto gasped. His father continued to smile at him.

"We don't really have time to explain all that right now son, ask your mother to explain it to you when you see her next."

"When I see mom next… what?"

"No time to explain! Now listen Naruto, you're going to need the Kyubi's power to defeat Madara, so I'm going to reseal it into you." To both Jiraiya and Minato's surprise Naruto merely nodded.

"Right! Just tell me what to do dad!"

"I need to go, and get started. Jiraiya-sensei, I assume you can send Naruto back?"

"It would be my pleasure." The white-haired sannin replied with a toothy grin.

"Ok Naruto, now listen. None of those people down there can stand against Madara right now, but you also aren't ready to face him. You're going to need to stall him until I can reseal the Kyubi in you. Understand?"

"Hai!"

"Madara is extremely powerful son, and has mastered space-time jutsu. The only time you can hope to land an attack is when he's attacking, that's the only time he's vulnerable. So to beat Madara, you will have to rely on speed."

His son simply nodded, taking in his father's words while staring down at the pedestal. Naruto noticed Gaara was staring at Madara with sand pouring out of his gourd.

"You cannot let Madara touch you. If you do, he will send you to another dimension. Use the hirashin as much as you can to keep him occupied." His son nodded again, eyes still fixed on the pedestal.

"Ok Naruto, I have to go now. Follow Jiraiya-sensei and do exactly as he says. I'll see you soon." His father called, disappearing in a yellow flash.

"Alright gaki, follow me!" Naruto once again followed Jiraiya through the fog until the two came upon a spot with a strange seal drawn on it.

"Ok Naruto, here's where we say goodbye." The sannin's apprentice wrapped him in a hug, tears falling from his eyes.

"Arigato… Jiraiya-sensei. For everything." Jiraiya tossled the hair of his youngest apprentice. "Don't mention it Naruto." He gently pushed Naruto towards the seal.

"Oh one more thing Naruto, tell Tsunade I am and will always be watching over her. So she should stop crying already when she's alone, it's depressing!" Naruto chuckled at his master's words.

"Will do…pervy sage."

"Oh, so I'm pervy sage again." Jiraiya joked, getting another chuckle from his student. "Ok, ready to go?" Seeing the nod from his student Jiraiya began forming hand signs. "Good luck Naruto, until we meet again!" with those words the Great Toad Sannin Jiraiya slammed his hands into the ground.

The seal Naruto was standing lit up to the point where it blinded the Yondaime's legacy. The light was so bright that Naruto passed out.

Jiraiya watched as Naruto began falling, disappearing before he could hit the ground.

"Good luck Naruto."

* * *

Kakashi approached his hysteric pink-haired student and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura don't worry, everything is going to be alright." He said with his one-eyed smile.

"NO IT'S NOT SENSEI! NARUTO IS GONE, HOW IS EVERYTHING GOING TO BE ALRIGHT WITH NARUTO GONE?" the kunoichi screamed back.

"He may be gone now Sakura, but I'm going to bring him back, so set him down." Came the calm reply of the copy nin, as he began focusing his chakra. This brought Sakura out of her hysterical state.

"Kakashi-sensei, you don't mean…"

"I do." The grey-haired jounin interrupted, one-eyed smile still plastered on his face.

"Sensei, that technique will…"

"I know." Kakashi gently interrupted Sakura again. "I won't allow another one of my comrades to die. Especially someone as important as Naruto. He's the one who's going to surpass the Yondaime and save this world, not me."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that Kakashi." A cold voice said. Madara appeared out of nowhere. "I can't have someone as powerful as Naruto running around, he has the potential to interfere with my plans." Madara reached out to attack Kakashi but Kakashi leapt backwards.

"Sakura, protect Naruto's body!" the copy nin called out, lifting his headband to reveal his mangekyo sharingan. "I'll handle Madara."

Cruel laughter filled the room as Madara was doubled over. "You… handle me? Please Kakashi, you are nothing more than a bug to me." The ancient Uchiha disappeared with these words, reappearing behind Kakashi.

Just as Madara's attack was about to land, a wave of sand engulfed his hand, forcing the ancient Uchiha to teleport away.

"So… the Kazekage wants to be involved too huh? Let's see how long you pathetic fools can entertain me!"

* * *

Naruto slowly felt himself coming to, his hair was drenched, and his face was pressed against something very soft. He fought back a blush when he realized where his face was as Sakura still desperately clung to him in a tight embrace. Resisting his instinct to jump up, Naruto began drawing in nature chakra.

_I'm going to need to be in sage mode if I want to hold off Madara._ The blonde jinchuriki thought, while simultaneously praying that Sakura didn't kill him once she found out he was conscious.

_Just give me a few minutes guys; just stay alive for a few minutes._

Kakashi twisted as he felt Madara appearing behind him, thrusting a raikiri at his foe. Not surprisingly, the lightning blade passed through the Uchiha. Madara again slowly moved his hand towards Kakashi, toying with the legendary copy nin. The ground the masked man was standing on suddenly opened up into a rift as the Hokage entered the fight.

Kakashi again leapt away from Madara. _Damnit, how are we supposed to beat this guy? We can't even come close to landing a hit on him and he's just toying with us…_

Madara teleported in front of Kakashi again, but instantly teleported away as he dodged a wave of sand.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu." Shikamaru called out, as his shadow caught Madara. Tsunade charged, striking at Madara with a chakra-enhanced fist, which again passed through the Uchiha. Guy used his formidable speed to get the Hokage away from Madara before he could try a counter attack.

More cruel laughter began to spill out of Madara's mouth. "Did you actually think an ant like you could catch me in a jutsu? None of you are worth my time!" Madara yet again disappeared, reappearing next to Zetsu, who had not left his perch on the statue's finger the entire "fight."

"You three are the best Konoha and Suna has to offer now? Pathetic. If you don't mind, I think I'll end this."

"Naruto?" a startled Sakura gasped.

* * *

Sakura was clutching Naruto's body to her as she watched Kakashi, Gaara and Tsunade tried to land a blow. Madara simply teleported around, following Kakashi and slowly reaching out to attack the copy nin. _He's toying with three of the most powerful ninja alive…_ Tears continued to stream down her face and into the hair of the Yondaime's legacy.

She thought she felt Naruto's body getting warmer, but ignored it, assuming it was simply wishful thinking.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu." Shikamaru called out as he caught Madara in his shadow. Tsunade rushed at Madara, but Sakura didn't notice. Naruto's body was now radiating warmth. She cautiously peered down at his body, hoping this wasn't all her mind playing a cruel trick on her, as Madara's cruel laughter again filled the room.

_His eyes!_ A yellow hue surrounded Naruto's eyes. _Is he in… sage mode?_ "Naruto?" the startled girl gasped.

The future Hokage's toad-like eyes shot open.

* * *

_Come on… hurry up! _Naruto thought as he heard his comrades fighting Madara. _Almost there… almost there…_

"Naruto?" he heard Sakura gasp.

His eyes shot open, and he couldn't resist the blush this time as his sight now confirmed where Sakura had his head. He reluctantly pulled himself from the clutches of his favorite cherry blossom.

"Naruto… you're alive! Naruto I'm so…"

"I know Sakura. We'll talk later, for now I have something I need to do." The former jinchuriki softly said, smiling into her eyes. He took out a three-pronged kunai and put it in her hands.

"Hang onto this." He whispered before standing and facing Madara.

"So… like mother like son eh? No matter, you're too weak to beat me now."

"I don't know what you're talking about Uchiha. But this… ENDS NOW!" Naruto yelled as he withdrew 6 three pronged kunai and tossed them in seemingly random directions. He then pulled out another one of his father's kunai and ran forward.

"Don't think just because you beat Pain means that you can hold a candle to me boy." He teleported in front of Naruto. The former jinchuriki threw his father's kunai at the ancient Uchiha, which phased right throw. Madara's hand landed on Naruto's shoulder. As Naruto felt himself getting pulled he hirashined to the kunai he had just thrown.

He turned around and again stared Madara down. "Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He calmly called out, as Naruto clones formed a ring around the two. The clones all pulled out three-pronged kunais. "Let's see you handle this!" Kunais began flying in the clone ring and Naruto flashed randomly from kunai to kunai.

Madara simply sat still observing the young sage, as the kunais phased through him. _Very impressive Naruto._ _But this won't work on me._ The Uchiha thought before teleporting out of the clone ring.

_Damnit. _ Naruto thought as he dispelled the clone ring. _I was hoping his arrogance would cause him to stay in the ring a little longer buying dad more time to seal the Kyubi back into me. Maybe I can catch him by surprise with the frog kumite. Now to wait for him to make his move…_

Naruto didn't have to wait long as Madara appeared behind him, with his sage enhanced senses Naruto was ready. He quickly turned around striking at Madara with the frog kumite as Madara's hand neared the former jinchuriki's body.

Naruto's blow connected, sending the startled Uchiha sprawling backwards. The former Kyubi container threw a three-pronged kunai to follow Madara, and used the hirashin to instantly appear by Madara with a giant rasengan in his hand.

"Senpo: Odama Rasengan!" the blonde yelled hoping to end the ancient Uchiha. Much to the young sage's dismay the attack phased through Madara, who teleported away to get away from the ensuing explosion.

"Impressive Naruto. I haven't taken a blow since your father managed to hit me with a rasengan 16 years ago. You should be proud."

Naruto's toad-slit yellow eyes were locked onto Madara's sharingan and rinnegan eyes. The yondaime's legacy stood completely still, drawing in nature chakra. _Damnit, I can't stay in sage mode much longer, and he hasn't even used the rinnegan yet. He's toying with me…_

"But every action has a consequence Naruto. You landing a blow on me has forced me to take this fight more serious." The ancient Uchiha said as releasing the long chain that connected his two cuffs. Madara charged at Naruto. As the Uchiha reached him, Naruto tried to strike him with another frog kumite but simply phased through the masked man.

"Kuso!" Naruto muttered as Madara's chains wrapped around him.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" Madara pulled the bound Naruto to him, ready to send the blonde boy to another dimension. His hand fell upon the former jinchuriki's head and he sucked the boy into another dimension.

"No…. NARUTOOOO!" Sakura screamed, tears streaming down her eyes.

Having just eliminated the biggest threat to his plans, Madara again began laughing as he turned towards the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Don't be so sad! Here, I'll let you join him. See? I'm not such a bad guy after all!" Madara said in a sweet tone. "Consider this my thanks to you for killing Sasuke for me."

* * *

Sakura watched in awe as Naruto flashed about.

_He really is amazing. _She beamed at him. The kunoichi was still getting over the shock of him suddenly coming back to life. The sudden warmth his body began emitting had felt so good. A small blush adorned her face as she thought of where she had been pressing Naruto's face when he came to.

_No, I can't think about this right now, I need to watch this fight. I almost lost Naruto once, I'm not going to lose him again._

A proud smile covered Sakura's face as Madara bounced backwards from Naruto's strike. _He managed to hit him!_ Naruto flashed above Madara with a giant rasengan in his hand.

"Senpo: Oodama Rasengan!" The giant rasengan caused a large explosion as it hit. _Did… he win?_ Sakura frowned as she spotted Madara, who appeared relatively unharmed.

"Impressive Naruto. I haven't taken a blow since your father managed to hit me with a rasengan 16 years ago. You should be proud. But every action has a consequence Naruto. You landing a blow on me has forced me to take this fight more seriously." Madara released a long chain that connected the two cuffs on his wrist.

The ancient Uchiha charged her knucklehead, who's counterattack phased through Madara.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" Madara yelled as his chains binded Naruto. He pulled the bound boy towards him…

_No… this can't be happening. Naruto can't lose like this… I just got him back… _Sakura's panicked mind thought.

Madara placed his hand on Naruto's head…

_No, please kami no! _Tears began pouring from Sakura's emerald eyes.

She watched in horror as Naruto was sucked into another dimension.

"No… NARUTOOOO!" Sakura screamed as tears continued to pour from her eyes. _That… BASTARD!_

Madara began laughing as he turned to Sakura. "Don't be so sad!"

Sakura felt a strange pull, confused, looked to her left to see Kakashi.

"Ah. I was wondering why he just sat here next to me when he substituted himself with a kage bunshin. Very clever Naruto." Her sensei muttered, calming down his pink-haired student.

_He's still alive… Thank kami._

Sakura followed her sensei's line of sight to stare Madara's back as he approached what she assumed was Naruto henged into her form.

"Here I'll let you join him!" Madara continued, unaware of the substitution jutsu that just took place, his sweet tone made Sakura's stomach sick. "See? I'm not such a bad guy after all! Consider this my thanks to you for killing Sasuke for me."

Sakura clenched her fist as Madara came closer. The Uchiha's hand slowly reached towards henged Naruto, who suddenly whipped out a three-pronged kunai.

* * *

_This is too much fun _thought Madara as he slowly reached his hand toward the pink-haired girl. He couldn't hold back his small gasp when she suddenly whipped a three-pronged kunai at him, disappeared in a puff of smoke, and was replaced by Naruto with a strange looking rasengan in hand.

The large orb had small mini orbs rotating around it as electrons, protons and neutrons would rotate around an atom. The boy disappeared in a flash, using the hirashin to teleport to the kunai that was now phasing through Madara's head.

"FUTON: GENSHI RASENGAN!" the sage yelled, slamming the strange looking rasengan into the ancient Uchiha. Madara gasped in pain as he felt the smaller rasengans orbiting the main ball tear into his flesh in every random direction, as the main ball began ripping away at his shoulder. Before the attack could kill him, Madara teleported away. The ball and its rotating satellites crashed into the ground in a giant explosion of energy. As the dust cleared, Naruto walked from the large crater he had just created.

A fuming Madara was staring at Naruto, as blood dripped from his body. He had gotten away before any serious damage could be dealt. "You… BRAT!" Naruto was suddenly rocketed backwards as Madara began using the rinnegan.

Slamming into the wall, Naruto could no longer maintain his sage mode. _Damnit, now he's using the rinnegan and I can't use sage mode. How am I supposed to beat him now?_

Before Naruto could think of anything else, Madara used his rinnegan to pull the former jinchuriki. _This time I won't suck a kage bunshin into another dimension… This is the actual one!_ Madara thought with a vicious smirk. The Uzumaki disappeared before he could reach Madara using hirashin.

"You shouldn't make it so difficult for me Naruto-kun." The Uchiha called in a sickeningly sweet tone as his eyes scanned the room. "I might get bored with you…" the Uchiha's eyes scanned finally finding what he had been looking for. The real Sakura stood next to Kakashi. "And move onto someone else!" as the words left his lips, he used the rinnegan to pull Sakura towards him.

"NOO!" Naruto yelled, blurring to her just as Madara's hand neared her. He shoved her out of the way, but could not react fast enough as he felt Madara's hand on his shoulder. He tried to use the hirashin, but he had exhausted too much chakra.

_Damnit…_ the jinchuriki thought. Suddenly he disappeared in a golden flash.

"What? No… that's impossible. You should be in the shinigami's belly! How you are you here?"

The Yondaime put Naruto down as he turned to face Madara with a smile. "Let's just say there's a reason everyone called me a genius." Turning back to his son he whispered, "Sorry I'm late. I see that you managed to land a blow, good job!"

"Sensei?" Kakashi gasped.

Minato's eyes met Kakashi's eyes, and Kakashi was greeted with a smile he hadn't seen in 16 years. "Hello Kakashi, it's good to see you again. Thanks for looking after my son." He looked at the rest of the shinobi gathered.

"I would also like to thank you all for coming for Naruto, but we don't have time to chat. We've got work to do. Ready Naruto?" The former Hokage said as he sent a soft smile to his son.

"Ready as I'll ever be dad. Let's get this over with."

"I have to warn you, this is going to hurt, so prepare yourself."

"I'm ready." At his son's words, Minato threw one of his trademarked kunai at the eye that had opened upon Naruto's extraction and instantly flashed to it. Before starting he looked at Sakura.

"Sakura, I believe you can use chakra chains correct?"

"Umm… hai" the shocked pinkette sputtered out.

"Good, get ready, we're going to need them." The girl nodded and ate a couple of soldier pills to replenish her chakra. She eyed Madara, figuring her love's father wanted him restrained.

Madara however just sat there, in a state of shock. Never in a million years could he have prepared for this. The man who gave him his second greatest fight, next to the shodai Hokage, had defied death and returned. He desperately tried to kick start his brain from the shock.

Minato began forming a complex series of hand signs while mumbling something intelligible to everyone else in the room. As he finished, he slammed his hand against the eye. A burst of red light exploded out of it, and a sinister chakra filled the room. The older Konoha shinobi instantly recognized it.

As the smoke cleared, the Kyubi no Yoko stood before them. "SAKURA, NOW!" the dead Hokage yelled.

Sakura wrapped her chakra chains around the Kyubi, attempting to restrain it. Everyone except Minato stared at the pink-haired girl in shock.

"Yondaime…" Sakura grunted as she struggled to restrain the Kyubi. "I'm not going to be able to hold it down for long!"

Zetsu appeared suddenly appeared behind the girl intending to strike her down. Instead he was wrapped in sand and crushed in Gaara's sand coffin. Sakura shuddered as she felt Zetsu's blood spatter against her back, but remained focused on restraining the Kyubi.

Madara snapped out of his shock as the Yondaime flashed to his son and put the eight trigrams seal on the boy. Madara teleported behind Minato but was forced to jump back to dodge a raikiri from Kakashi.

Minato flashed through more handsigns and again muttered something unintelligible, causing Naruto's seal to begin glowing.

"DAMN YOU MINATOOOOOO!" the Kyubi roared as it managed to break out of Sakura's chains. But the Kyubi had escaped to late, it began getting sucked into Naruto's body. Naruto's screams of pain echoed throughout the cavern as he again became the jinchuriki of the mighty Kyubi.

As the last of the Kyubi was sucked into Naruto's body, the jinchuriki fell forward unconscious. Before he could hit the ground, his father caught him with a sad, yet proud smile.

"Good job Naruto." The Yondaime whispered in a soft voice.

"DAMN YOU MINATO! Do you really think this is going to make a difference? I can just summon another King of Hell statue and rip the Kyubi from your son again! THEN I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Madara yelled in a cold, furious voice.

"Sorry Madara, not today." Came Minato's calm reply. He turned to his son's rescuing party. Everyone link together, we're going now."

"Don't think I'm going to let you escape Minato!" Madara screeched running forward. Minato's sapphire blue eyes met Madara's sharingan and rinnegan eyes, just before the group disappeared in a flash.

* * *

_Naruto sat ontop of the Hokage monument in Konoha. Smiling he looked down at the village. Everyone was so happy, everything was so peaceful. The jinchuriki was grateful to have finally received their acknowledgement. He finally had precious people, a group of great friends, and the love of the woman of his dreams. The blonde let out a happy sigh as he leaned back and stared into the sky._

_The future Hokage was brought out of his cloud watching as a terrified scream came from the streets below. Flinging a three-pronged kunai towards the scream, he flashed down to the village. Konoha's streets were on fire, and enemy nin were slaughtering the villagers._

"_Looks like you failed… Naruto." Naruto turned around and gasped, "Sasuke?"_

"_All that talk of becoming more powerful because you had someone to protect... look where that's gotten you and your "precious people. You should've followed my path. You should've used your anger at the villagers to reach a whole new level of power. You would've been able to beat Madara if you had.""_

"_Stop talking like it's too late. I'm going to beat Madara and protect this world!" the blonde growled._

"_It is too late dobe. How can you expect to beat Madara if you couldn't even save me?"_

"_I WILL save you Sasuke, I WILL defeat Madara, and I WILL become Hokage."_

_A cruel laughter sounded behind him, and Naruto turned around just in time to see Madara suck Sakura into another dimension._

"_SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAN!" Naruto screamed as he rushed the ancient Uchiha. His attacks simply phased through the laughing Uchiha._

"_Ah Naruto, so nice of you to find me. I was just about to come and take my Kyubi back!"_

_Naruto fell to the ground, writhing in pain as Madara simply pointed at his seal. _

_Suddenly the scent of cherry blossoms reached Naruto's nose, and cherry blossoms filled his entire vision. He felt a warm, familiar pair of arms wrap themselves around him._

"_It's ok Naruto. Everything will be ok. I love you."_

_

* * *

_

Naruto's rescue team was shocked when they suddenly appeared in an old house. From the looks of the place, no one had been there for years.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"I teleported us all back to Konoha. I had one of my kunai in our house." Minato said, as he gently laid his son down.

"Is he going to be ok?" a worried Sakura questioned.

"Yea, Naruto will be fine. He just passed out from pain." A look of relief flooded Sakura's face, as she sat down and laid Naruto's head in her lap. A small smile adorned the Yondaime's face as he watched Sakura gently play with his son's hair.

"Thank you everyone, for everything you have done for my son. I don't want to be rude, but using the hirashin to travel such a distance, and with so many people, has nearly drained me of all my strength. I don't have much time left, I would like to be left alone with my son, Sakura, and Kakashi if you don't mind."

The shinobi all nodded, leaving the house after thanking Minato for everything.

"Sensei… I'm sorry." Kakashi said as the last person left the house. Sakura curiously looked up at the two men while still playing with her knucklehead's hair.

"Why are you apologizing Kakashi? I was just about to thank you." Minato replied with a smile on his face.

"No, I need to apologize. Your son had a very rough childhood, I should've looked out for him more. That was the first time I failed him. I failed him again when I let Sasuke break him, and take him to the Akatsuki. I'm so sorry." To both Sakura and Kakashi's surprise the Yondaime began laughing and scratched the back of his head.

"Geez, you're actually blaming yourself for all of that? I've watched Naruto his entire life Kakashi. I know you did what you could to help him. I didn't see what Sasuke did to Naruto, but I do know that there was nothing you could have done to stop it. Stop thinking of yourself as a failure. Thanks to your training, my son has become a powerful and noble man, and you are a precious person to him. So as I was about to say earlier, thank you."

Then Sakura saw something she never thought she would see, a single tear drop slid down Kakashi's eye. "You're welcome sensei… and thank you."

The moment was interrupted as Naruto began thrashing about and started mumbling something. Sakura quickly formed hand signs and placed her hand on Naruto's head. "Yume-no Sakura Jutsu." Naruto calmed down, and a smile appeared on his previously distraught face.

"That's some genjutsu you created there Sakura." Minato said, smiling warmly at the girl as Sakura blushed.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Sakura quickly replied.

"Hokage-sama? Oh no, not you too." Minato groaned, causing Kakashi to chuckle. Sakura looked at her sensei with a confused look.

"Sensei never was a fan of being called "Hokage-sama" he insisted that everyone continue calling him Minato. Kushina however refused, much to sensei's displeasure and would keep calling him Hokage-sama every now and again." Kakashi's smile was visible even through his mask.

"I haven't been the Hokage for 16 years now and she STILL calls me Hokage-sama from time to time." The legendary Yondaime Hokage complained, causing Sakura to laugh. "Just call me Minato ok? We're family." Minato smiled as he yet again caused Sakura to blush.

"I'm glad you were the one he fell for Sakura. You're a good woman, and I will be proud to call you my daughter-in-law."

"Thank you Hoka…Minato." Sakura replied with a smile as tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.

"Now Sakura if you don't mind, could you wake Naruto? I don't have much time and I would like to say goodbye before I go." Sakura nodded. Minato watched her, curious to see what brilliant technique she had invented to wake Naruto up, after seeing her Yume-no Sakura Jutsu in person.

Sakura leaned in close to Naruto's ear. "NARUTOOOOOOOO! GET UP!"

The Yondaime sweat dropped. _She really is similar to Kushina._

Naruto shot up. "Wha? What's going on? Sakura-chan? Where are…" he was silenced as Sakura put a finger on his lips.

"Stop asking questions, your dad wants to say goodbye!"

"Dad… you're leaving?" Naruto softly asked as his eyes went to the floor.

"Yep, the technique I used to get here is almost out. I want you to know, this is the absolute last time that myself, your mother or Jiraiya sensei will ever be able to directly help you on Earth. But that doesn't mean that we won't be watching you. I know you'll do great Naruto, I'm proud of you." Minato wrapped his son in a hug.

Tears fell from Sakura's eyes as she watched the touching moment.

Minato's hand started to become transparent. "It looks like it's time for me to go now."

Tears streamed down Naruto's face. "I love you Dad." The jinchuriki whispered.

His father smiled warmly at him. "I love you too son."

"Take care Kakashi, and thanks again. Sakura, take care of my son. Goodbye and good luck Naruto."

With those words, the Yondaime faded away as his son continued to spill tears.

"Thanks dad." Naurto whispered.

* * *

Whew! 5,628 words. Anywho... I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know having Minato suddenly show up on Earth and all that is a bit of a stretch, but hey, it needed to be done.

I would also like to thank DanddoSerri for the suggestion of Kakashi copying the technique Granny Chiyo used to revive Gaara with his sharingan. Neat idea, thanks again Danddo!

I'm going to take a slight break from this story and work on a NaruSaku fluffy Christmas oneshot since I've finally managed to end a chapter without a cliffhanger! Now don't worry, when I say "take a break from this story" I don't mean ignore the story for a couple of months and then come back to it. Nothing like that, I expect I'll have this story finished by the end of this year (only 2 more chapters to go after all!) I've just been pushing updates out so quickly. I would say I'll return to it in a week or two and finish it.

Also one last note, I don't think I'm going to have Madara and Naruto fight for real in this fic. I want to wait and see how Kishimoto has Madara fight with his fan and rinnegan eye, I'm also curious to see how Naruto fights now that he can harness the Kyubi's power.

The new rasengan that Naruto used translates to "Atomic Rasengan" if anyone's interested, there really weren't that many jutsus this chapter so no jutsu list.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter!


	9. Duty

Heyo! The second to last chapter is finally here!

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far! Motivation is good!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed since last time: Goddess of Night Eternal faith, Echo Uchiha, DanddoSeri, Toasty Warrior, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, Blazing CobaltX,

Goddess of Night Eternal faith: I got your chapter 7 review just about ten minutes after I had posted chapter 8 =P I'm glad you like the story so much, and I dunno, Sakura MIGHT be saying some things this chapter. /e innocent whistles

Echo Uchiha: thanks!

Toasty Warrior: Hehe, /e crosses fingers. Hopefully you approve :D

Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: more NaruSaku fluff coming up!

Blazing CobaltX: glad you like the story! And yes, I gave Sakura a water infinity to boost her power so she would realistically stand a bit more of a chance vs. Sasuke. Kai is used to release a genjutsu, I'm not sure if it directly translates to release, but I wanted a different word to release Sakura's technique because she's not dispelling a genjutsu, and according to Google translator, Ririsu means release in Japanese =)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would wear cloaks more often. Surely he noticed how badass his dad looked in his cloak while Minato was resealing the Kyubi for him right? Came on Naruto, jump on the badass cloak train already…

Alright, with all that done. Onto the show. Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"- Chapter 9: Duty

* * *

Kushina Namikaze watched through the pedestal as her husband spoke with their future daughter-in-law.

"That's some jutsu you created there Sakura." Minato said to the girl after watching her place her self-created jutsu on their son.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

Kushina's eyes lit up as a cruel smile formed on her face.

"Hokage-sama? Oh not you too…" her husband groaned.

_It's been a while since I've called him Hokage-sama. At least a year. Maybe I should… no. He's been good, no need to tease him anymore._ She mused.

"Sensei was never a fan of being called "Hokage-sama" he insisted everyone continue calling him Minato. Kushina however, refused, much to sensei's displeasure, and would keep calling him Hokage-sama every now and again." Kakashi said, trying to clear up his student's confusion.

Kushina chuckled, it really was fun calling Minato "Hokage-sama" his reaction was just too priceless. She began re-contemplating her decision to stop calling him Hokage-sama. _No, it was fun, but he really doesn't like it…_

"I haven't been the Hokage for 16 years now and she STILL calls me Hokage-sama from time to time…" her husband complained. Kushina's face twisted in anger.

_COMPLAINING ABOUT ME BEHIND MY BACK? Oh you'll regret that… Hokage-sama._ The evil smirk was back on Kushina's face as she watched Minato speak with Sakura.

She beamed in pride as Sakura chose to yell in her son's ear to wake him up. _I definitely approve of this one!_

Her husband's hand began to become transparent.

"I love you dad…" Naruto whispered. A tear ran down Kushina's cheek.

"I love you too son. Take care Kakashi. Sakura, take care of my son, Goodbye and good luck Naruto." Minato disappeared from the house, and reappeared next to her.

"That was very sweet…" Kushina cooed as she gave her husband a soft kiss. She pulled back from him. "Hokage-sama." She said with an evil wink.

Minato groaned.

* * *

After Minato disappeared , Kakashi left leaving Sakura and Naruto in the house alone. Sakura walked up to Naruto and pulled him into a hug, letting him cry on her shoulder.

"I'm… sorry Sakura-chan. I shouldn't be crying. My dad was always dead, and I'm happy I got to see him… I don't know why…"

"Shhh Naruto, it's ok. You just had to say goodbye. Don't apologize, just let it out." She said gently to her knucklehead.

After five minutes Naruto's tears stopped and he pulled out of her embrace.

"Thanks Sakura-chan…" he muttered.

She fixed him with another soft smile. "Anytime Naruto."

The two just sat there in awkward silence before Sakura broke it.

"So… are you going to take your Father's last name now that you know the truth?"

"No… I keep my dad's memory alive every time I use the rasengan or the hirashin. The only way I keep my mom's memory alive is through her maiden name. I made it this far as an Uzumaki and I'm going to become the Hokage as an Uzumaki. Besides, if I accept the Namikaze name, then people will treat me differently because I'm the Yondaime's son. I don't want that. I will gain their recognition and acceptance by myself." The jinchuriki said, eyes full of determination.

Sakura beamed in pride at him. _That's my Naruto._ She hadn't believed it was possible, but she respected her knucklehead even more.

"Are you going to move to this house? It's a lot nicer than your apartment."

"No… I don't think I'll ever be able to live here. This house is where I was supposed to grow up with my parents. This house is where we were supposed to be a happy family. It's just too much for me to be here…"

Sakura didn't really know how to respond, so instead she again wrapped her arms around her favorite blonde. He slowly returned the hug, and the two stood in silence again, wrapped in the others' arms.

"Naruto… we need to talk. About what I said that day you left Konoha… that wasn't me."

Naruto's face dropped into a frown.

"_Oh don't give me that Uzumaki. You. Are. The. Kyubi. You are an evil and terrible demon who slaughtered thousands of innocent villagers."_

"Sasuke drugged me with some kind of potion that allows a sharingan user to control the victim without the victim realizing it. Naruto, I would never say those things to you. I'm so sorry you had to hear those terrible words come out of my mouth, I know it must've hurt so much…"

"_Naruto Uzumaki, a demon like you… doesn't deserve happiness. Demons like you only deserve misery."_

"Naruto, I'm sorry that I allowed Sasuke to do that to you. But I took care of him, so you don't need to worry about that anymore." Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean… by you took care of him… Sakura-chan?" he sputtered.

_She couldn't have…_

"I killed him." Sakura stated plainly. "Using me to break you… that was the last straw. I haven't really wanted him back for a while, I only wanted him back so you would stop risking your life. But after he hurt you so badly, and handed you over to the Akatsuki… I couldn't forgive him."

_There's no way she could have… Sakura Haruno loves Sasuke Uchiha. That's how it's always been, that's how it will always be…_

"I was so mad at him, that I fought him one-on-one. I know revenge isn't the answer Naruto, but I couldn't help it. Naruto, I fought Sasuke. And with your mother's help, I killed him. Naruto's eyes widened.

_FLASHBACK_

"_Kushina…" Minato said softly looking down at the pedestal. "She doesn't have much time. You need to go before it's too late."_

_Kushina glanced at her husband, and tightened the embrace her and Naruto shared. "Naruto, I have to go now."_

_FLASH IN_

"Sakura-chan… that's… not possible. You…"

Sakura knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I love you." She interrupted, her emerald eyes held no doubt in them.

_Sakura loves me?_

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan, can you say that again?"

Instead of answering, Sakura grabbed the back of the jinchuriki's head and brought his lips down against hers. Naruto returned her kiss, before pulling back to stare into her eyes. Sakura stared back into his eyes, her eyes were shining with love.

_FLASHBACK_

"_**When I'm taken from you, and Madara uses me for his moon-eye plan, do you really think all of Konoha will be safe?" the Kyubi questioned a broken Naruto. "No, they will all be slaughtered. Your sensei, your Hokage, Iruka, your friends, your pink haired vixen…"**_

"_I don't have a pink-haired vixen fox. I never had, and never will." Naruto spat, with a slight tone of anger and hurt to his otherwise dead voice._

"_**That doesn't mean you still don't care about her. I know you kit, you still want to protect those people, especially her. If you just give up now, you're as good as sending all of your precious people, along with the rest of the world, to certain death."**_

_Naruto showed the first true hint of emotion since being broken by Sakura, as his face contorted into a frown._

"_Someone else will rise up. Madara won't win. There's no need for me to fight…"_

_FLASH IN_

"He's right…" Naruto muttered.

"Who's right?" a confused Sakura questioned.

"Huh?" Naruto hadn't realized he said that out loud.

"Who's right?" Sakura repeated, staring into her knucklehead's eyes. Naruto sighed.

"Kyubi. Kyubi's right. When Sasuke was taking me to the Akatsuki after… you know. Kyubi was trying to talk me into escaping from Sasuke. He told me that if I gave up, then there would be no one who could stop Madara, and I would be damning this entire world to death." The jinchuriki said softly, his sapphire eyes were strangely distant.

"I told him, that someone else will rise up. That Madara wouldn't win, that I wasn't needed…"

Sakura still did not know what to say, and tried to pull him into a tighter embrace. She held back a gasp when he resisted.

"And then I came back to life. Kakashi-sensei, Tsunade and Gaara, three of the most powerful ninja alive couldn't touch Madara, and he was just playing with them… Then I had to fight him, and I was only able to land a couple of blows…"

The confused expression on Sakura's face, was replaced with a proud smile.

"You were amazing Naruto." Again, she had to hold back a gasp when Naruto did not return her smile, instead his face tugged further downwards into a frown.

"No… I wasn't. I was going all out against him without the Kyubi. He wasn't even taking me seriously. I only landed **TWO** blows Sakura."

"But he didn't land any blows on you!" the kunoichi fired back. _Damnit Naruto, you were amazing, I'm not going to let you downplay that!_ She thought angrily.

"That's the difference between my fighting style, and Madara's. He only needs to land one hit to end a fight. And if it weren't for my father, he would've gotten me. If my father hadn't arrived when he had, I would be in another dimension right now. Madara toying with me, was able to beat me in my sage mode. He completely exhausted my chakra to the point where I couldn't use hirashin to escape. And you want to tell me that I was amazing?"

"Naruto…" _You were amazing…_

"NO SAKURA!" Sakura jumped back, she hadn't expected him to yell, much less at her.

"I was far too weak…"

"That's ok Naruto, we'll get stronger together. I'll help you any way I…"

"NO SAKURA." The whiskered boy yelled, before his face and tone softened. "I'm sorry, but there's not going to be any "we" about this."

"NANI?" Sakura yelled, tears forming in her eyes. "What do you mean there isn't any we? I love you, I know you still love me. I know you love me from the kiss we just shared!"

"I can't afford to be with you right now Sakura. I need to focus all of my energy into training to become stronger so I can beat Madara, I'm the only one who can stop him."

"I DON'T CARE!" Sakura screamed, tears now flowing down her face. "You can focus all of your energy into training, I understand. I just want to be with you. And besides," Sakura forced a grin onto her face and tried to lighten her tone. "Having me nearby will allow you to go all out on your training, I'll be able to heal you up right away!"

"I'm not going to be doing that kind of training Sakura-chan…"

"I still don't care. You can do whatever training you want or need. I just want to be able to curl up with you when you fall asleep…" Sakura said. _I'm not going to back down. Naruto baka you love me and I love you, I'm not going to let both you and me be miserable for no damn reason…_

"That's another problem Sakura-chan…"

"Me wanting to sleep with you is a problem?" Sakura all but shrieked.

"Sakura-chan… I… I don't know how to say this…"

"I don't care what you have to say, it doesn't change the fact that I love you, and I will always love you. I'm not going to take no for an answer!"

"Hehe, you're so stubborn Sakura-chan…" Naruto said softly, scratching the back of his head.

Sakura, thinking she had finally broke through to her knucklehead, smiled and tried to kiss him. She was again surprised when Naruto turned his face so she kissed his cheek.

"Sakura-chan… I can't do this with you. You single-handedly destroyed me. You broke me to the point where I didn't care anymore, where I just wanted to die…"

"**THAT. WASN'T. ME! SASUKE WAS CONTROLLING ME AND MADE ME DO THAT YOU BAKA! I LOVE YOU, I WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!"** Sakura bellowed, tears freely falling from her eyes.

"But it was you Sakura…" Naruto's sad soft voice replied. "I know you weren't in control, but Sasuke wasn't able to break me, you were. If Sasuke had walked up and said those things to me, I would've been fine. If anyone else would've said those things to me, I would've been fine. But the fact is, that whether you were in control or not, you said those things. You broke me."

Sakura began sobbing. "Na..ruto. Please… I… I… It wasn't my fault! Please you have to believe that I would never hurt you…"

"That doesn't matter Sakura…" Naruto again replied in a sad soft voice. "What matters is that you **can** hurt me. You **can **break me. I'm the only one who can stand against Madara right now. It's my duty to ensure that I prepare myself and defeat Madara. If for some reason, you manage to break me again, there will be no one to stand against him…"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME BREAKING YOU. I WILL NEVER HURT YOU!" Sakura screamed into his face.

"You already broke me once Sakura… I'm so sorry, but I just cannot risk it. My dad already told me that him, mom, and Jiraiya-sensei wouldn't be able to help me again. So I don't have the safety net that I had the first time. I'm sorry, but I can't be with you…"

Sakura dropped onto her knees, sobbing, hugging her arms.

Naruto stared at the girl that he loved with pained eyes. Seeing her in so much pain… It was tearing him apart. _She said she would never hurt me, that she loves me… Maybe I should trust her…_

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto stared at Madara Uchiha, with a blank face._

"_Ah Naruto-Kun, so nice of you to join us. Come, let's get rid of that Kyubi for you."_

_Naruto offered no resistance to the ancient Uchiha. Even though he still could've escaped with a hirashin, even though he could've put up a fight._

"_Well then, shall we Naruto?" Madara said in a too friendly tone._

_Naruto walked into the room where he was to die, on his own. The husk had no sense of self preservation._

_FLASH IN_

_No… With my power, it is my duty to protect the people of this world. I can't risk it. Sakura is the only thing that can break me right now…_Naruto was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice Sakura stand up. He was brought out of his musings by a pair of warm, soft lips desperately crashing into his.

He felt Sakura's tears falling from her eyes, and falling down his own face, as she desperately jammed her tongue into his mouth. Naruto tried resisting, tried not returning the kiss. But he couldn't, he couldn't resist his emerald-eyed angel. He grabbed the back of Sakura's head and returned the kiss.

The two desperately made out, Sakura's tears had stopped, as her hope again rose. After five straight minutes the two pulled out gasping. Sakura had a happy smile in her puffy eyes, while Naruto was trying to maintain a look of impassiveness.

He was too startled to resist Sakura's embrace, as she tightly clung to him. "I won't hurt you Naruto, I won't ever hurt you. I love…"

"You're right…" the jinchuriki interrupted. "You won't hurt me." Naruto tried to remove himself from Sakura's tight embrace, but the kunoichi used chakra enchance strength to keep him firmly in her embrace. "Sakura… you won't hurt me, because you won't be with me. I'm sorry, but this is too big of a risk to take when the lives of everyone in the world are at risk. Maybe after I've defeated Madara we can…"

"I DON'T WANT TO WAIT THAT LONG." Sakura yelled, tightening her grip even further on her knucklehead. "You keep saying there's some sort of risk…" the Gondaime's apprentice growled. "And I'm telling you there's not. I will not hurt you!"

Every fiber of Naruto's being wanted to give in, wanted to return her hug, kiss her, tell her he loves her. _This is bigger than me…_ He used the substitution jutsu and Sakura was left hugging a book.

"Sakura…san… please leave now."

Sakura stared at the book in her arms… _How… why is he saying no to me after seeing how desperately I want this? Why won't he trust me…_

"Sakura-san… please…"

She again made eye contact with Naruto, except now her eyes were filled with anger… and hurt. "FINE! I'm sorry I inconvenienced you, oh great **Naruto-sama**…"

Naruto fought every single instinct in his body as he watched the love of his life storm out of his parent's house, knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk to her until after he had taken care of Madara.

Sighing, the future Hokage tried to clear his thoughts and began searching around the house for his father's scrolls on hirashin.

* * *

Ino was working in her parent's flower shop, bored out of her mind, when she saw her best friend walk by, with tears streaming down from her eyes.

"Mom I'm going out!" the platinum blonde quickly called as she ran out the door to catch up with her best friend.

"Sakura! Sakura wait up!"

The pink-haired kunoichi stopped, but kept her head down in hopes that her bangs would hide the tears falling from her eyes.

"Sakura, what's wrong? Shouldn't you be with Naruto right now?"

"Naruto… Naruto rejected me Ino…" Sakura said softly. "Please, I'm barely holding together right now. I don't want to break down in the street, don't make me do this here."

Ino wrapped her arm around her best friend and guided her back to the flower shop and into the backroom, where she shut and locked the door.

"Alright Forehead," Ino said with a sneer, hoping to get a rise out of her grieving friend. "Spill it."

"There's not much to spill Ino…" Sakura choked out, as tears spilled from her eyes. "I told him that I love him, but he told me he couldn't be with me because I'm the only person who can break him. And since he is the only who can fight Madara, he can't afford to take the risk.

"WHAT? That's idiotic!" Ino yelled out, her mind devising ways to hurt Naruto for being so stupid.

"I know…" Sakura whispered. "I told him that he doesn't have to worry about me hurting him, because I never will. But…" a fresh wave of tears streamed down Sakura's face. "But he didn't believe me. He told me to leave, and called me Sakura-san. SAN! Like we're just acquaintances or something!"

"Damn that Naruto! When I see him… I'm going to make him regret being such…"

"Don't Ino." Sakura said in a small voice. "He's made it clear he doesn't want me right now. There's nothing I can do."

"What are you talking about Forehead? There's plenty you can…"

"No Ino, I tried and tried to convince Naruto to be with me. I wrapped him in a hug, and was using my chakra enhanced strength to keep him trapped in it while we talked. He was so desperate to escape that he used a substitution jutsu…"

"Ok Sakura. If Naruto was in your place, would he give up?"

Sakura timidly looked into her best friend's eyes. "No, he would never give up." She softly muttered.

"Damn straight he wouldn't. And if a baka like him wouldn't give up, then someone like you shouldn't give up either."

"But Ino…"

"Sakura you are the apprentice of the Gondaime Hokage." Sakura's tears stopped, as she again looked into the eyes of her best friend. "You are one of the greatest medinins in this world." Sakura's fist clenched. " You are possibly the most powerful kunoichi in Konoha." A look of determination made its way into Sakura's emerald eyes. " You are the beautiful women that Naruto baka loves." A confident smile spread across her face. "There is no reason for you to give up."

"You're right! Thanks Pig!"

"No problem Forehead, so what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know… it's going to be hard to confront him here in the village, there's plenty of places he could flash off to in an instant…"

"Then get him out of the village." Ino said as if it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Naruto won't agree to leave the village with me Pig…"

"He'll agree if the Hokage orders it." Ino interrupted.

"You mean… a mission?"

"Yep, a mission, just the two of you."

Sakura pumped her fist into the air, "Alright! I'm going to go get Tsunade-sama to force that baka to go on a mission with me." The pink-haired girl said with a look of fury in her eyes.

"Thanks Ino." Sakura said marching out of the flowershop.

_Try to reject me will you Naruto… I DON'T THINK SO! SHANAROO!_

_

* * *

_

Tsunade was staring at a mountain of paperwork, the largest mountain of paperwork that had ever been seen on this Earth. _This is what I get for going out on a mission…_ The Hokage sighed, and reached into her drawer for a bottle of sake. _I'm going to need this if…_

"NANI? SHIZUNE! WHERE IS MY SAKE!"

"Sorry Hokage-sama, but as the acting Hokage at the time, I made an executive decision to remove all traces of alcohol from the Hokage's office." Her student and assistant answered innocently.

"Damnit Shizune… I swear…"

The Hokage was interrupted as the door to her office was smashed off its hinges.

"Sakura?"

"Shishou, I need you to give me and Naruto a mission. JUST me and Naruto. No Kakashi, no Sai." Sakura said in a no-nonsense tone with a furious look in her eyes.

"Sakura… that's rather sudden. Why? What happened?"

"I told him shishou. I told him the truth. We kissed, everything seemed to be perfect, but then he told me he couldn't be with me. Because he was the only person who could stand up to Madara and I was the only person who could break him. He wouldn't believe me when I tried telling the baka that I would never hurt him…"

"Sakura… try to see things from his point of view. He makes a good…" Tsunade tried reasoning with her apprentice.

"HE DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD POINT. I CAN BREAK HIM, BUT I WILL NEVER BREAK HIM!"

"Sakura… I know this, but Naruto…"

"NARUTO SHOULD TRUST ME!"

"I'm sure he does Sak…"

"IF HE TRUSTED ME, WE WOULDN'T BE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION SHISHOU!"

"Sakura… as one of the last remaining jinchuriki, it's not easy for me to send Naruto out on a mission. If he gets captured…"

"I will not let him get captured." The pink-haired kunoichi interrupted, her eyes shining with confidence. "I will not let him get hurt, and I will show him that I will never hurt him."

Tsunade leaned back and pinched the bridge of her nose. Naruto was like a son to her, and she wanted to see him be happy. Sakura was also like a daughter to her, and she wanted Sakura to be happy…

"Fine Sakura. I'll set up a training mission for you and Naruto. But it's going to take time to set everything up given Naruto's status and all."

"How long?"

"At least two days."

"That's fine shishou." The Cherry Blossom snapped out. Turning to leave, she stopped at the door, and softly called over her shoulder, "Thank you… Tsunade-sama."

* * *

Naruto had been holed up in his apartment for the past two days studying his father's fuijutsu scrolls. While he studied the scrolls, his clones had spent the time outside practicing throwing and catching three-pronged kunais.

Naruto now understood how his father's seal worked, and was able to create his own unique seals for the hirashin. He knew everything he needed to begin working on hirashin level two. The blonde jumped out his window where his clones were still practicing. He pressed his hand onto a clones shoulder and began focusing on the seal…

"Naruto-sama!" an Anbu called, interrupting Naruto's focus. "You need to report to the Hokage right away!" Naruto sighed and threw one his father's trademark kunai at the Hokage Tower. The Anbu watched as the sage dissapeared in a yellow flash.

Moments later, an annoyed Naruto was standing in front of Tsunade.

"What is it Baa-chan, I'm working on mastering hirashin level two…" the Yondaime's legacy grumbled.

"Well brat, you're going on a training mission. You're to report to a temple in lightning country in one week. So you need to leave instantly."

"Nani? Why do I need to go to lightning country? I know what I need to train, I don't need anyone's help…"

"The master of the temple is a very old and wise shinobi. He's not going to train you, merely assist you in your training. He will watch you train and use his experience to offer pointers and advice."

_Baa-chan wouldn't send me there unless she thought this old man could help…_ _And besides, this will get me away from Sakura-chan._ Naruto sighed.

"Alright Baa-chan, I'll leave immediately."

"Hold up brat! I can't just let you go by yourself, I'm sending an escort with you."

"An escort? Baa-chan…"

"Naruto, you are one of two remaining jinchurikis, and the only person in this world who can stand against Madara. I just can't let you leave the village by yourself."

"But Baa-chaaaan, I can handle myself…" the sapphire-eyed blonde whined.

"Maybe so, but I'm sending someone just in case. You can enter now!"

Naruto's mouth was agape as Sakura walked into the room.

"Baa-chan, you can't send Sakura with me. Send someone else…"

"Next to you, Sakura is one of the most powerful shinobi in our village. She single-handedly beat Sasuke, and she's a medinin, so she can heal you should anything happen. As your escort, Sakura is in charge of this mission. Now you two should leave immediately." The Goindaime commanded.

"Baa-chan you don't understand…" Before Naruto could say anything else, he was forcibly dragged out of the office by his "escort."

"Sakura-san… this…"

"DON'T… call me Sakura-san." Sakura spat. "You will refer to me as Sakura-CHAN, or Sakura."

"Sakura…" Naruto said softly, she had not let go of his hand and continued dragging him toward the city gate. "This doesn't change anything between us, I still can't…"

"Just shut up baka. I don't want to hear it."

"Sakura… do you think you could let go of my hand? I can…"

"No." she roughly interrupted. Realizing his hand wasn't going to be free anytime soon, Naruto sighed before thoughtlessly tightening his grip on his emerald-eyed angel's hand, something that didn't go unnoticed by Sakura, as a very slight smile made its way across her angry features.

* * *

Naruto had given up hours ago at ever getting his hand free, and now walked at Sakura's side. The two had been walking hand in hand for hours, and the sun was starting to set.

"We're setting up camp here." Sakura ordered, leaving no room for argument.

"Ok, I'll go collect firewo…"

"No, you won't. We won't need a fire, it will only draw attention." Sakura interrupted. The kunoichi wasn't going to give her knucklehead a single chance to get away from her.

"Ne, Sakura-chan… we're going to need our hands to set up our tents." Sakura reluctantly let go of his hand, and began setting up her tent. Glancing up, she noticed Naruto was setting up his own tent. _I don't think so baka…_

Sakura walked up to the tent that Naruto had nearly set up and completely destroyed it using her chakra-enhanced fists.

"SAKURA WHAT THE HELL?" Naruto yelled. But Sakura didn't give him a response, she grabbed his hand again.

"We're going to bed." Without giving the stunned jinchuriki a chance to respond, she dragged him to her tent.

"Sakura-chan… I can't…"

"You will." Sakura's tone left no room for argument, and the Yondaime's legacy reluctantly stepped into her tent, and she quickly followed.

"Sakura-chan, there's only one…"

"Yep, we're sharing." She again interrupted with a command. She stripped down into her bra and panties, and smirked when she saw her knucklehead's shocked blushing face.

"Sakura… Sakura-chan... what are you…"

"Since we don't have a fire, we're going to use each other's body heat to stay warm."

"But shouldn't we wear…"

"No, now get a move on."

_Damnit Baa-chan, you had to put her in charge…_

A blushing Naruto slowly stripped down to his boxers, and climbed into the sleeping bag that Sakura already occupied. As soon as he was in, Sakura wrapped her arms around him tightly.

_Damnit… I can't allow myself to do this. If I give my heart to her now, she can break me._ Naruto thought as he tried to squirm his way out of Sakura's embrace. But the kunoichi was using her chakra enhanced strength to keep him firmly in her embrace.

"I'm not letting you go Naruto…" Sakura said, meaning it both literally and figuratively. "So just give up."

"Sakura-chan… please you don't seem to understand…MMPH!"

Sakura interrupted him by capturing his lips with hers, as soon as he began kissing back, she sent her tongue to lick the bottom of his lip, demanding entrance into his mouth. Naruto complied, and the two's tongues danced back and forth for another five minutes before they pulled back, gasping for air.

"I told you before, and I will keep on telling you until it finally gets through your thick skull. I love you baka, and I will never again hurt you." Sakura said softly with a gentle, but determined smile.

"Sakura-chan… you never mean to hurt me. But you still do. When you broke me, that wasn't the first time you unintentionally hurt me. Back in Iron Country, when you lied about loving me to stop me…"

"I didn't lie about loving you baka! I will not deny that I decided to tell you then in an attempt to manipulate you so you would stop chasing Sasuke, but I wasn't lying. I loved you back then, just as I love you now, just as I will love you forever Naruto Uzumaki." Sakura finished by softly kissing Naruto on the lips.

"Sakura-chan… I want this, I want this so badly, but I still shouldn't…"

"Both your mom and dad called me their daughter-in-law Naruto. They want us to be together, I love you, you love me, so stop fighting this already!" Sakura nearly yelled, as tears fell down her face.

The emerald-eyed angel's tears nearly broke the last of the future Hokage's defenses. Naruto wiped the tears from her face with his thumb.

"Sakura-chan… I have a duty to the people of this world…"

"AND I HAVE A DUTY TO YOU DAMNIT. You are the man I love, therefore it is MY duty to make YOU happy. It is MY duty to protect YOU. It is MY duty to love YOU." Konoha's cherry blossom cried out.

This broke the last of Naruto's defenses.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan. Please stop crying, I hate seeing you cry. I love you, I want to be with you. And… I'm sorry I rejected you."

Sakura's tears stopped as she looked up at her knucklehead with hope-filled eyes. Naruto wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her forehead.

"I trust you Sakura-chan. My heart is now in your hands."

Sakura flashed him a bright smile, and held him even tighter. "Thank you Naruto…kun. I will protect your heart with my life. My heart is now in your hands as well." She kissed him gently on the cheek.

"I will cherish your heart and defend it with my everything Sakura-chan. I love you."

Sakura laid her head on her boyfriend's chest. "I love you too Naruto."

Minato and Kushina Namikaze's son and future daughter-in-law drifted off into a pleasant sleep.

* * *

Yayyyy! FINALLY! I don't know about you, but it's about damned time if you ask me. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It was just so much fun mixing Sakura's stubbornness with Naruto's never give up attitude.

Anyways, we got one more chapter of this story left. Obviously Naruto and Sakura are off to some temple in Lightning Country to train, I'm entirely off canon at this point. I'm currently thinking of plans for a sequel to this story where Naruto kicks Madara's ass and the world is all happy and stuff like that. But first things first, finish this story out next chapter!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the finale!


	10. Love

Well, here we are at the final chapter! Just for the record, thanks to the great reviews I've gotten from this story + me coming up with an idea of what I want to do, I will be writing a sequel to Jinchuriki's Husk. I'm debating between "A Jinchuriki's Strength" or "A Jinchuriki's Radiance" as the titles atm. See the bottom of this page for more details on that.

As always, I appreciate the reviews/favorites/follows and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far! Motivation is good!

Shout out to everyone who reviewed since last time (most reviews so far for any chapter might I add!): Freespeedingbird, holydemon90, Nutt Man 117, newserkzzz, Gravenimage, Lobo Argost, Kaelin the Black Swan, Blazing CobaltX, cmcwiki, ragnrock kyuubi, Toasty Warrior, Echo Uchiha, TheRealLifeAlucard, Kyuubi loves NaruSaku, Goddess of Night Eternal faith, Serenity Namikaze

Freespeedingbird: Sorry. The story is rated T, not quite mature enough to write a lemon. Also, I'm not much of a lemon writer anyways. I may write a lemon one shot set between this story and its sequel, but that's not a guarantee.

holydemon90: Ya, it was reckless of Tsunade. But she defends herself this chapter! Your other suggestions are actually planned for the sequel! Thank you very much also for the compliment! I blushed a little when I first read it! =P

Nut Man 117: That would be awesome until you had to do your laundry =P I hope you enjoy the finale!

newserkzzz: I guess. You just don't see much in the ways of temples or temple masters in the manga. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, and it's not as off canon as I think...

Gravenimage: Thanks! I hope you enjoy the finale!

Lobo Argost: Haha, no problem. Sasuke isn't exactly my favorite Naruto character in the world either =P

Kaelin the Black Swan: Well... I looked at like this while writing. Sakura really loves Naruto and she already thought she lost him earlier without ever being able to tell him the truth. With Sakura's psychi it just seemed natural to me that she would fight tooth and nail to get what she wants. But don't worry, in the sequel she won't let Naruto forget who's responsible for them being together =P And I'm glad you enjoyed the story, hopefully you enjoy the finale as well!

Blazing CobaltX: SHANAROO! :D

cmcwiki: Here here! Three cheers for Sakura!

ragnrock kyuubi: Thanks! I hope you enjoy the last chapter of this story. But don't worry, a sequel is sure to follow!

Toasty Warrior: Hehe, I'm tricky like that from time to time =P I'm glad you enjoyed it and hopefully you enjoy the finale as well!

Echo Uchiha: No worries, a sequel is coming ;)

TheRealLifeAlucard: Thanks =)

Kyuubi loves NaruSaku: if I were the Kyubi I'd personally still be a little grumpy towards Sakura for restraining me with damned chakra chains while Minato reseals me again =P

Goddess of Night Eternal faith: I REALLY enjoyed writing Sakura drag Naruto into bed. Sooo much fun =P Glad you enjoyed! /e salutes. Update complete!

Serenity Namikaze:Who knew Naruto had it in him to reject Sakura...oh wait, nevermind. He doesn't :D And "that's my Naruto" made it in that chapter, (and I think this chapter?) primarily because I just watched the third movie again yesterday =P And no worries, I will definitely be doing more stories. Including a sequel to this one =)

Whew, I feel so cool doing all those responses. Anywho, let's get onto the finale shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and Naruto would've learnt more sweet jutsus from the forbidden scroll Mizuki tricked him into stealing right away. Also Naruto would've handled Zabuza one-on-one while Kakashi and Sasuke eat some popcorn and Sakura swoons over how freaking cool Naruto is the entire duration of the fight!

Please do enjoy "A Jinchuriki's Husk"- Chapter 10: Love

* * *

"I've came to say hello… Tobi. Or… are you going by Madara now?" a snake-like Kabuto greeted.

"I'm surprised you found me." Madara calmly responded.

"I travelled from land to land as a spy… and was even part of Akatsuki for a while. Don't underestimate how much I know."

"You were one of Sasori's spies… You betrayed Akatsuki." Madara said before leaping towards Kabuto.

_I don't know what you have planned Kabuto, but it won't be good for me. Time to take care of you before you can become a problem…_

Kabuto leapt backwards, forming handseals. Suddenly a row of coffins burst out of the ground between Madara and Kabuto.

"This is…" a surprised Madara muttered. "Edo tensai."

"The forbidden jutsu only the Nidaime Hokage and Orochimaru-sama could use… But now I'm the third." Kabuto said with a sneer. "This is a special performance just for you… so you will believe my strength… But don't worry. I haven't come here to fight."

"Then what do you want." Madara asked in a suspicious tone. The ancient Uchiha didn't trust the snake-like man as far as he could throw him.

"I want to join forces with you." Kabuto said with a suspicious smile.

"You want to join forces. What would I gain by that?" _And what do you gain by that Kabuto…_ Madara thought as he tried to figure out what the scaled man was plotting.

"I hear you plan to start a war soon. I'm offering my support… Here are Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, and… Nagato. They're all strong… and they are not my only pawns." Kabutu casually said, as his snake tail waved in the air.

_Akatsuki is all but destroyed. I only have the Zetsu army left, and I still need to capture the Hachibi and Kyubi…_

"Can bodies revived by your Edo-tensei extract biju?"

Kabuto frowned, "I'm afraid not. But they can **capture** biju."

"What do you want in return?"

"Sasuke's body." Kabuto replied with a sick smile.

"What makes you think I saved Sasuke's body?"

"Please Madara-**sama**, I thought I already told you not to underestimate how much I know."

"I see. I don't know what you want with Sasuke's body, but even with your help I would still need to recruit new Akatsuki members. So instead of accepting your help, I think I'll just kill you right now and be done with this Kabuto." Madara said, as he calmly walked towards Kabuto, planning on sucking him into another dimension.

"Kuchiyose edo tensei!" Kabuto yelled, as another coffin came up from the ground. The coffin opened and Madara gasped.

"Th… That's!"

Kabuto smirked at the ancient Uchiha. "Did you really think I came here without an ace up my sleeve? That's right… you can't refuse!"

Madara wanted nothing more than to kill Kabuto right where he stood. "You… bastard. Where did you get that?" he spat.

Kabuto gave him another twisted smile. "It's complicated… Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this."

To Kabuto's surprise, Madara burst into laughter. He arched an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"Kabuto Yakuishi. I had no idea… you had this in you. If I fought you now, I will only weaken myself. I'll join forces with you, but I will only give you Sasuke's body after you've proven yourself."

Kabuto smiled back. "You're a smart one. I expected nothing less of Madara Uchiha. So, when do we begin our war?"

"We're going to need to wait until we can recruit some new living members into the Akatsuki. We will act after we've done that. Now, let's go."

_I will keep you close Kabuto, and the second I get an opportunity, I will kill you._

_

* * *

_

_Naruto was standing on barren earth, as the rain poured down. His spiky blonde hair was matted down, slightly covering his sapphire eyes as he stared at the rinnegan and sharingan eyes of Madara Uchiha. Lightning flashed, illuminating Madara as he stood with his fan._

_Naruto closed his eyes, and opened them again to reveal toad-like eyes. _

"_Now we finally end this Madara. I will stop you here, and save this world."_

"_What makes you think you can stop Madara." The hate-filled voice of Sasuke spat in his ear._

_Naruto twisted around and came eye to eye with a the mangekyo eyes of his former best friend._

"_Sasuke…" he gasped. "You… you're dead, how can you be here?"_

"_You're right Naruto. I'm dead. You failed to save me. If you can't save your best friend, what hope do you have of saving the world from him?" Sasuke snapped as he pointed at Madara._

"_Sasuke… I tried. I tried so hard, but you refused to listen. There was nothing I could do… It was impossible to save you…"_

"_Oh? Naruto Uzumaki admitting something is impossible? That's not you dobe. You believe you can do anything."_

"_I… I'm sorry I couldn't save you Sasuke."_

"_It's too late for apologies Naruto… Now you join me!"_

_Sasuke charged at Naruto with a chidori filled hand, on instinct Naruto countered with a rasengan._

"_CHIDORI!"_

"_RASENGAN!"_

_The resulting explosion blew the former brothers backwards. "Sasuke… stop this. I don't want to fight you. I need to focus on Madara!"_

"_SHUT UP DOBE. I'm dead because of YOU. I will avenge myself by taking your life!" Sasuke suddenly transformed into his curse seal lvl 2 form._

"_What… I thought Itachi destroyed Orichimaru during your fight. How can you still use the curse seal?" Sasuke started cackling like Orochimaru._

"_Kukuku. What's wrong dobe? You don't like seeing the monster that YOU created?"_

_The jinchuriki's toad-like eyes stared into Sasuke's mangekyo sharingans. Naruto couldn't help but shudder at Sasuke's appearance, it had been a while since he had seen it after all. Purple skin with dark blue hair, and bat-like hand wings sprouting from his back._

"_Sasuke… we don't have to do this. Please st…"_

_The Yondaime's legacy was interrupted as he leapt back to avoid Sasuke's chidori. _

_Naruto summoned a ring of shadow clones surrounding the two combatants. Each clone took out a three-pronged kunai._

"_I don't want to fight you Sasuke, and I can't afford to waste my time fighting you. I need to stop Madara. I'm going to ask you one last time Sasuke, stop this. Please stop this. If you don't, I will be forced to kill you…"_

"_I'M ALREADY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU NARUTO! WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO!" Sasuke yelled with a crazed look in his eye as he charged Naruto. The jinchuriki sighed. His clones began throwing their kunai and Naruto flashed around Sasuke. Not even the Uchiha's mangekyo sharingan eyes could come close to keeping up with the sage._

_Naruto flashed around Sasuke slicing his brother with a kunai over and over. Naruto stopped and dispelled the clone ring, as his best friend dropped to the ground, thousands of cuts and slashes littering his body._

"_Naruto…"_

_Naruto couldn't bring himself to look at Sasuke… _

"_Naruto… look at me…"_

_Naruto looked straight into Sasuke's eyes as Sasuke muttered, "Tsukuyomi."_

_Naruto was tied to a cross, in a black and white world. Three Sasuke's stared at Naruto with hate-filled eyes. You couldn't save me Naruto, you can't beat Madara. This is your punishment! All three Sasuke's simultaneously stabbed Naruto with chidori charged kusangi's._

_Naruto screamed out in pain, as he coughed out blood. Naruto felt something tighten against him._

"_Naruto!"_

_Before he could figure out what the voice was, Sasuke had brought Sakura before him._

"_You failed me Naruto, now I will kill the one you love."_

"_No, Sasuke… NO! DON'T!" Sasuke suddenly transformed into Madara. The King of Hell statue rose from the ground, and Madara begin ripping the Kyubi from Naruto's body. That terrible pain, that pain that defied all logic again enveloped Naruto's body."_

"_Please…. Stop…" he gurgled._

_Madara laughed cruelly before turning back to Sakura. "You care for her no? Your soul is going to be ripped out of your body…" Madara turned back to Naruto pointing to his rinnegan. "You wouldn't believe the things this eye can do… Here, watch."_

"_NOOO!" Naruto screamed as pain enveloped his body. Again, he felt something tighten against him, he felt warmth._

"_Naruto… wake up!"_

"_You've failed to beat me Naruto. You were a fool to ever think you could." Madara said in a cruel tone, as he ripped Sakura's soul from her body. "You can't beat me Naruto Uzumaki."_

_Tears streamed down Naruto's face, as the pain of having the Kybui extracted continued to plague his body. Suddenly everything stopped as he felt something soft pressed against his lips…_

_

* * *

_

Sakura was stirred from some of the best sleep she had ever experienced as the personal heater she had her arms wrapped around began lightly thrashing about. She lifted her head from his stomach and saw the look of despair on his face.

"I'm… sorry I couldn't save you Sasuke." Her knucklehead mumbled in his sleep.

_He's beating himself up for that? I could use the yume-no sakura jutsu on him, but that would just be a temporary fix. I can heal him fully now._

Naruto began wildly thrashing about as he cried out in pain. Sakura just tightened her embrace around him.

"Naruto!" she nearly yelled. But the thrashing didn't stop.

"Please… stop…" the jinchuriki mumbled.

Sakura looked into his tear stained face, that was twisted in an expression filled with pain and grief.

"NOOO!" Naruto suddenly yelled, as tears began streaming down his face like a great waterfall.

"NARUTO! WAKE UP!" Sakura yelled. Her knucklehead continued twisting about, Sakura was about to use the yume-no sakura jutsu when she had one last idea. Grabbing the back of the sleeping blonde's head, she pulled his lips down into hers.

* * *

Naruto woke up from his nightmare with the lips of his emerald-eyed angel pressed into his. His eyes shot open in surprise, as he pulled back from the kiss.

"Sakura-chan…?"

Sakura blushed a little, as she gave him a concerned smile. "You were having a nightmare, so I had to wake you up…"

Naruto shot her a foxy grin. "I could get used to that. Getting kissed by the most beautiful girl in the world to wake up…"

This caused Sakura to blush, before she lightly bopped him on the back of the head. "Pervert." Her boyfriend pouted back at her, before getting a devious look in his eye.

"Hey, I'm not the one kissing people in their sleep…"

Sakura shot him a dirty glare, and pulled her fist back to teach Naruto a lesson. Panic set in on Naruto's face as his girlfriend prepared to punch him.

"Ne, sorry Sakura-chan! I was just joking. You're a beautiful emerald-eyed angel, and angels can't be perverts!" the Yondaime's legacy said quickly, hoping flattery would save him. And indeed, flattery did save him. He was rewarded with a warm smile, and a soft peck on his cheek.

"That was sweet Naruto, but don't think you're getting off the hook. I'm still going to make you pay for what you said later…" Sakura muttered in a sweet tone. "Now, what were you dreaming about?"

The happy look on Naruto's face was quickly replaced with a frown as Naruto made sure his eyes were looking away from Sakura's.

"Oh… nothing to worry about Sakura-chan. There was this guy who was stealing my ramen…" Naruto lied, praying to kami that his overly intelligent girlfriend would just this once be fooled.

"You're lying Naruto. I heard you apologize to Sasuke before you started thrashing about in pain…"

"It was just a dream Saku…"

"It was a nightmare. And you're going to tell me about it, don't forget I'm in charge of this mission still."

"Sakura-chaaan, that's not fair." Naruto said in a playful tone, hoping it would distract the pink-haired kunoichi currently in his arms.

"I don't care. You're my baka now, and I'm going to take care of you. I have a jutsu I could use to make sure your dreams are happy, but I would rather get to the root of the problem and fix it instead. Now talk. Your **taichou** commands it."

Naruto sighed. His eyes were again pointed anywhere but Sakura, until Sakura grabbed his chin and made him stare into her beautiful emerald eyes. The jinchuriki stared, mesmerized, momentarily forgetting what was going on. _So beautiful…_

"Naruto!" Sakura managed to snap Naruto out of his hypnosis.

"Ah...right. Sorry Sakura-chan. I sorta got distracted by your eyes there…" Sakura blushed again and had to fight the urge to kiss him. _No, I need to get some answers so I can help him._

"Well… I was standing across from Madara on the battlefield, and just before I started fighting him, Sasuke appeared out of nowhere. He told me if I couldn't even save him, my brother, there was no way I would be able to defeat Madara and save the world. Then he blamed me for his death…"

"That's ridiculous Naruto, there was nothing you could have possibly done to save him, he chose vengeance over his bonds!"

"I know…" the whiskered blonde whispered. "But he didn't listen, and attacked me. He said he was going to avenge himself by killing me… Then…"

"Naruto wait… There's something you need to know about Sasuke. At the end of our fight, we were both nearly out of chakra, and only had enough left for one last attack. Sasuke charged at me with a chidori, and I charged at him with a rasengan that your mother taught me how to use. My rasengan landed, and killed him, but he had an opportunity to strike me with his chidori which would've killed me. But he didn't it, he instead let his chidori dissipate."

"What? Why would he…"

"Before he died, he told me I stopped him, and he thanked me. Naruto, there was no way to save Sasuke during life, but I believe that you helped save him in death. I don't think Sasuke would want to kill you, you were one of his precious people."

Tears formed in Naruto's eyes as he fought them back. "That's good…" the spiky haired blonde whispered. "But… If I couldn't keep Sasuke alive who's to say I can beat Madara and save the world…"

"I am." Sakura replied without missing a beat. Emerald met sapphire, as Sakura cupped Naruto's cheeks. "Tsunade-sama is. Kakash-sensei is. Iruka-sensei is. Your mother and father. Jiraiya. Everyone believes in you Naruto, everyone knows you can do it." Sakura kissed her boyfriend on the cheek as he tightened his grip, holding her even closer.

"Thank you Sakura. Thank you so much." He said as he kissed her. Sakura returned the kiss and the two were quickly engaging in a war of tongues, after seven straight minutes they pulled back and smiled into the others' eyes.

Both Naruto and Sakura were completely entranced in the others' eyes and stared at each other with soft smiles for the rest of the night.

* * *

It was early afternoon by the time Naruto and Sakura woke up, and it was mid-afternoon by the time the two managed to get out of the sleeping bag. Neither wanted to leave the others' embrace. But they unfortunately had a temple to get to.

Nartuo grabbed Sakura's hand, an action that earned him a smile, as the couple took off at a comfortable jog. Naruto knew of a town right near the temple that he visited while traveling with Jiraiya, so the pair decided to get there a few days early so they could relax together.

The two jogged in a pleasant silence, smiles fixed on both of their faces.

"You seem to know more about this mission than I do… I know Baa-chan said I'm to spend as much time as I need training here, but what if we're needed back at Konoha? We are two of the most powerful ninjas Konoha has."

"I gave shishou the three-pronged kunai you gave me when you first came back. If anything comes up, she'll send one of her fastest falcons to us with a message and we'll use the hirashin to get back instantly." Sakura replied.

"That was good thinking Sakura-chan." The jinchuriki complemented with a foxy grin on his whiskered face.

Sakura returned his smile. "Thanks Naruto, I was pretty proud of the idea myself."

Naruto's eyes widened as he suddenly stopped, still holding onto Sakura's hand.

"I just realized something Sakura-chan… That means I can't instantly flash to you whenever you need me." The future Hokage said with a worried voice.

"It's alright Naruto, I can take care of myself, I'm not some weak little girl that needs protecting!"

"I know Sakura… It just puts my mind at ease knowing I can get to your side in a second." Sakura fixed her boyfriend with a soft smile. _He's so sweet…_

"Ne Sakura-chan… I was wondering something…"

"And what were you wondering baka?"

"Well… I've learned a lot more about the hirashin, and I can even do hirashin level 2 now when I spend my time concentrating on it. I was wondering…" Naruto looked extremely nervous as he scratched the back of his head. "I was… nevermind."

Sakura wasn't sure what could make her boyfriend so nervous, so she captured his eyes with hers. "What were you wondering Naruto?" she said softly.

"Well… with enough time, I can put a chakra hirashin seal tattoo on someone. I was going to ask if you would mind if I put one on you, so I can always flash to your side in an instant. But that's pretty dumb ne?" he chuckled nervously.

Sakura surprised him by kissing him softly on the lips and smiled at him. "I'd like that Naruto."

Naruto's startled sapphire eyes met with her calm and warm emerald eyes. "You would? I half expected you to punch me… In a way, it's sort of like me marking you, and it's a permanent thing."

Sakura again gave him another soft kiss. "It's cute how much you want to protect me. I don't mind being marked by you, and as an added perk, it brings you peace of mind. How does the seal work?"

Naruto's face twisted into a giant soft grin as he stared at her. "Well, the seal is actually my own upgraded version of my dad's. In addition to it allowing me to instantly flash to you, it also allows you to alert me whenever you need me. All you have to do is push a little bit of chakra into it, and I'll know, and flash to you. Even more, if your body is ever poisoned or pierced the seal will let me know so I can know to come to your side, even if you don't have the time to notify me yourself. Oh, and since it's a chakra tattoo, it won't be visible unless it's activated."

Sakura looked at him with a proud smile. "That's very impressive Naruto, I'm sure your Father would be both impressed and proud."

"Thanks Sakura-chan… Now what design do you want the seal to be in, and where?"

"What do you mean what design?" Sakura questioned, eyebrow raised.

"Well… even though it's a seal, it still is going to be a chakra tattoo, and I can make it in any image you want. For example, if you want "Shanaroo" tattooed on your back, I could make the seal so that it spells out "Shanaroo." Naruto explained, getting a laugh out of his emerald-eyed angel with his tattoo example.

"You baka…" Sakura smiled at Naruto, and took off her shirt, so she was now standing before Naruto in just her regular skirt and a pink bra.

Naruto was not expecting this, and stared at Sakura as if she was a goddess. "So… beautiful…" he mumbled. Sakura winked at him.

"I'm up here baka." Blushing, slightly embarrassed sapphire eyes met smug emerald eyes.

"I want it to be in the design of a cherry blossom tree with a kitsune laying at its base, and I want it over my heart. If you can control the size, make it about the size of a fist."

"Hai Sakura-chan." The whiskered boy responded, as he placed his hand over Sakura's heart, blushing slightly as he felt Sakura's breast touching the edge of his hand. Sakura again smirked at him even though she was lightly blushing herself.

Naruto pictured the design in his mind as he began using his chakra to permanently put the seal over Sakura's heart. After about 20 minds of concentration, Naruto sat back and admired his handiwork. His Sakura now had a pink cherry blossom tree with a golden fox laying at its base and the tattoo was the size of his fist.

"Alright! All finished Sakura-chan, and it looks pretty good!"

Sakura pushed chakra into the seal so she could see it and smiled. "You did great Naruto."

"Now let's test it!" Naruto said as he sprinted away. Sakura watched him go until he was out of sight, then she felt her seal activate. It didn't hurt, and it didn't even feel weird. It just filled her entire body with a warm feeling. There was a yellow flash and the next thing she knew Naruto was standing right in front of her.

"YATTA!" Naruto cheered, causing Sakura to giggle.

"Naruto… thanks." Sakura said softly.

"I should be the one thanking you Sakura-chan!" he enthusiastically replied. Sakura wrapped him in a hug, and softly kissed him on the cheek.

"No, I need to thank you. For always caring about me, and for always being worried about my safety. I know I haven't always shown my appreciation, but I do appreciate it. Even if I don't need protecting, I still feel so happy and safe knowing you are watching over me." Sakura's hand pulled Naruto's head down, so that their lips could meet, and after a couple of minutes of passionate kissing, the happy couple pulled back from each other, genuine smiles present on their faces.

"Now let's get going, I want to get there a couple of days early. That town you were talking about sounds great!" Sakura cooed lacing her fingers together with her knucklehead's.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto made it to the town near the temple three days ahead of time. The sky was just beginning to give off an orange glow as they walked through the town's gates. Sakura rested her head on Naruto's shoulder who had made sure to loop their arms together as soon as they saw the town and stopped jogging.

Nartuo led the way to a quaint little inn. It was made of gray stone bricks, and had a cute thatched roof.

"Naruto-chan? Is that you? You sure have grown since I last saw you!" a kind little old woman greeted. "And who is this with you?"

"Hey old lady, it's been a while. This is Sakura, my..." Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head, while looking at Sakura as if asking her permission. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I'm his girlfriend. My name is Sakura Haruno, it's nice to meet you." Sakura politely finished for her knucklehead.

The old lady chuckled a little. "So, what brings the two of you out here? This is a far ways away from Konoha."

"I'm due at the temple near here in three days for assistance in my training, so Sakura and I are spending a couple of days here beforehand." The old lady chuckled.

"Why am I not surprised. Naruto-chan here for training. It seems you haven't changed much over the years, always training to get stronger. Where's Jiraiya-sama?"

Naruto's happy smile dropped with his eyes as they focused on the floor. Sakura instantly grabbed her boyfriend's hand, and gave it a tight squeeze while fixing him with a caring gaze. She knew how much Jiraiya meant to her boyfriend. She also had suspicions that her favorite jinchuriki still hadn't fully gotten over his death.

_I'm here now, I'm not going to let you face this by yourself._ The pink-haired kunoichi thought.

"Jiraiya-sensei… is gone. He was killed by a very powerful ninja while he was gathering information on an evil organization." Naruto replied sadly. He shot Sakura a grateful look for her support. His emerald-eyed angel just smiled at him.

"That's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that Naruto-chan. I know how close you two were. Here's your room key, and don't worry about paying, it's on the house."

"What?" a startled Naruto asked preparing to object.

"After what you and Jiraiya-san did for this town, you will always have a free room here." The old lady quickly elaborated.

"Arigouto, Mai-san." The Toad Sannin's apprentice replied with a grateful smile on his face. Taking the key, the happy couple bounded up the stairs, and entered their room. The room wasn't the biggest, it had one twin-sized bed in the center, a small dresser, and a surprisingly decent sized bathroom. The bare wood floor creaked a little as they set their stuff down.

"Sakura-chaaan! Naruto called out in a voice reminiscent of their genin days. "Want to go out on a date with me?" he asked in his "hopeful genin voice" while giving her a wink. Sakura chuckled at her blonde's antics.

"I **suppose** Naruto-**kun**. But only if you're paying!" she playfully retorted with a quick peck on his whiskered cheek. Naruto responded by capturing her lips for a brief moment, before pulling back.

"Of course Sakura-chan! Let's go!" He began dragging his girlfriend out of the room, but was rewarded for his enthusiasm with a fist to the back of the head.

"Sakura-chaaaan, why…" Naruto groaned from his new spot on the ground.

"Both you and I are not dressed for a date! This will be our first official date as a couple and I refuse to go looking like crap, and I'm not letting you wear orange either!" Sakura scolded with a cute smile on her face.

"Sakura-chan… I don't have any nice clothes. I didn't really think I would be needing them when were leaving on this mission." Naruto awkwardly mumbled, not really wanting to remind his new girlfriend that just a few days ago he was dead set on rejecting her.

Sakura just smiled at him. "Well, when I requested the Hokage give the two of us a mission I…"

"NANI? You made Baa-chan give me a mission with just you?" Naruto gasped.

His pink-haired girlfriend fixed him with a confident smile. "Of course! I knew that you loved me like I loved you, and I wasn't going to take no for an answer. So all I needed was to force you into a mission with me. Obviously when it was just the two of us, you wouldn't be able to resist me." She explained with a smug smile on her pretty face.

"Now, as I was saying…" Sakura continued, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, "When I requested this mission, I knew that you would give into me, and I bought you some nice clothes to match mine. Now whenever we go out on dates, we'll match perfectly! It's going to be so cute!" she cooed, taking out a scroll. She unsealed a package of clothes and tossed it to him.

"Now go change!"

"Hai… **taichou**." Naruto replied with a wink, as he walked into the bathroom.

Sakura began giggling as she heard Naruto groan when he saw what she was making him wear. After much swearing, the jinchuriki emerged from the bathroom 15 minutes later fully clothed in the dress clothes Sakura had bought for him. When his eyes fell upon Sakura, he froze and couldn't help himself from gawking.

"So… beautiful…" he mumbled to no one in particular. Sakura was wearing a stunning ruby red strapless dress which had a very generous neckline that showed off Sakura's modest cleavage. Her ruby heels heels clicked on the wooden floor as she sashayed up to him with a cute smile, and quickly pecked him on the lips, to bring him back to the real world.

"Just as I expected, you look pretty good yourself Naruto-kun." She said as her eyes probed her boyfriend. He was wearing a pair of black dress shoes, black pin-striped dress pants, a matching black pin-striped shirt, a ruby red vest, with a ruby red poorly tied tie. She giggled at the sight of the tie.

"So… I guess I've figured out why it took you so long to get ready." His emerald-eyed angel teased as she fixed her knucklehead's tie. Once she was finished she drew him into a passionate kiss, that ended all too soon for Naruto's liking.

"Now, lead the way Naruto. This date was **your** idea after all!"

Her knucklehead simply grinned at her and offered his arm, which she gladly took. The happy couple left arm-in-arm.

_This feels so right_ both boyfriend and girlfriend dreamily thought at the same time.

* * *

Tsunade stood in front of a seething Koharu and and Homura.

"What were you thinking Tsunade? Sending one of the last jinchuriki out on an extended mission with one bodyguard, not to mention sending our most powerful shinobi out of the village during such turbulent times?" Koharu asked in a disrespectful tone.

"That was very irresponsible Tsunade. You let your attachments to the jinchuriki and your apprentice cloud your judgment. I know you are rash Tsunade, but this sort of decision is not befitting of a Hokage. I'm starting to wonder if it was a mistake in appointing you Hokage after all." Homura added.

Tsunade met their angry gazes unflinchingly. _It's not going to help me to let of go of my temper. I need to remain calm._

"Naruto is this world's only hope at defeating Madara, and yet when he faced off against Madara in the Akatsuki base, he was barely able to land two blows while Madara was simply toying with him. If it hadn't been for the timely arrival of the Yondaime, Naruto would've been defeated. He needs training, and the master at the lightning temple is highly knowledgeable and will be a great asset in Naruto's training." Tsunade said in what she hoped was a calm tone.

"He could've trained here. Kakashi was Minato's student, I'm sure he would've been able to help in Naruto's training. For sage training, Naruto has been known to summon Lord Fukasaku to assist him. There was no reason for him to leave the safety of our village." Homura retorted.

"I've heard rumors that this mission was your apprentice's request Tsunade. That she wanted the mission so she could become romantically involved with the Kyubi brat." Koharu spat. Tsunade's calm face instantly transformed into a furious expression on the words Kyubi brat.

"THAT'S ENOUGH. Sakura did request this mission, I would not have given it to them if I didn't think it would be beneficial to Konoha's future. I know Naruto will return from this mission strong enough to beat Madara. And if I EVER hear you refer to Naruto as "Kyubi brat" again I will personally execute you where you stand. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" The furious Hokage bellowed.

"Are you threatening me Tsunade?" Koharu stammered, with a look of fear on her ancient face, that she was clearly trying to hide.

"No. I'm simply telling you what will happen if you ever say those ugly words again. Naruto is the son of the Yondaime, he is the hero of Konoha, he deserves respect." Tsunade spat, a glare still on her face.

"Fine. We just wanted to raise our concerns Hokage-sama." Koharu interjected, trying to remove some of the tension from the room. "We apologize for coming off so rude. But what will happen if we need Naruto back in the village, should another person like Pain attack?" The old man calmly asked.

Tsunade's face turned into a small proud grin. "Sakura actually thought about that, and found a solution." The Hokage withdrew a three pronged kunai. "Should anything happen we will send our fastest falcon to them, and Naruto will use the hirashin to transport the both of them back instantly."

Homura calmed down slightly at these words. "What if Madara attacks the two while they're travelling?"

"Naruto knows that he can't beat Madara right now. He will use the hirashin to get both him and Sakura away instantly. Sakura will have told Naruto about me having his kunai, so if I were to guess, I would say he would probably flash the two here."

"You've thought this mission out Tsunade, and it very well could yield great results. But I must warn you, if something happens to the jinchuriki as a result of this mission, we will have no choice but to force you to step down as Hokage." Koharu warned.

"Nothing will happen to Naruto. He's well on his way to surpassing his father, and he has my apprentice with him. Sakura defeated the traitor Sasuke Uchiha, and will defend Naruto with her life. There is nothing to worry about. If you two have nothing left to say, I would appreciate if you would leave. As you can see, I have a lot of paperwork to do."

The elders nodded, and took their leave. Tsunade sat down and stared at the never ending mountain of paperwork and sighed.

_Get back soon gaki, people are getting scared. Your presence is going to be needed to keep everyone feeling protected._

_

* * *

_

Naruto and Sakura sat in a very nice restaurant. Their table had a simple white tablecloth, with a single rose in between the two lovers. Paper lanterns hung from the ceiling and gave off a soft glow which served as the restaurant's only lighting. A man sat in one corner lightly playing a lute to some sort of romantic nameless tune. Since officially being recognized as a sage, Naruto's pay had significantly increased even if he was still technically a genin. Naruto was currently munching away on a large bowl of "gourmet ramen."

_This gourmet ramen tastes and feels so weird. It's almost like I'm eating some sort of salad with seared chicken in it or something…_ The clueless blonde thought. Little did he know that when his girlfriend excused herself to go to the bathroom, she really went and threatened the waiter into changing her boyfriend's order into a grilled chicken salad, then cast a quick genjutsu on him as the food arrived.

The pink-haired girl couldn't help but giggle at the confused look on her knucklehead's face. _Like I'd let you eat ramen on our first date as a couple. AND you're starting the most important training of your life in a few days. You're going to eat healthy SHANAROO!_

Naruto looked up, even more confused when his emerald-eyed angel pumped her fist into the air with a determined smile on her face. "…Sakura-chan?" he asked as he sweat-dropped.

Sakura hadn't realized she had literally pumped her fist in the air, she just meant to do it in her mind. "How's the gourmet ramen?" she inquired trying to mask her embarrassment.

"It's alright… It tastes and feels like some sort of chicken salad though, it's so strange…" he replied as his mind went to work trying to figure out the mystery of the gourmet ramen. Sakura merely giggled again before returning to her chicken dumplings.

"How are your dumplings?" Naruto asked, deciding to give his mind a break from what he now dubbed "The Great Ramen Mystery."

"They're so amazing! Here, try one!" Sakura cooed, before shoving one in her boyfriend's mouth.

"Wow Sakura-chan, you sure picked the right thing! Maybe you're right. I should've gotten something other than ramen here…" Naruto said before returning to trying to solve the great ramen mystery. The pink-haired kunoichi shot him a smile.

"Of course, you don't come to a fancy restaurant and order ramen baka! And you need to start eating more than ramen, I want to enjoy a long life with you. I won't get that if you keep eating nothing but ramen!" she scolded playfully.

"Ne, sorry Sakura-chan, I'll try to eat more than just ramen from now on…" Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

After the two finished their dinners (Naruto never did solve the ramen mystery), they left the restaurant arm in arm. They walked through the small town taking in the sights, before Naruto stopped them at a small ice cream stand.

"You have to try this ice cream Sakura-chan! Pervy sage took me here after my first day of training in this village. This is some of the best ice cream in the world ttebayo!" the blonde excitedly chirped.

"I'm still pretty full from dinner Naruto…"

"Then we can just share a cone! I'm not going to let you not try this ice cream!" a determined Naruto said.

After ordering three scoops of strawberry ice cream in a waffle cone, Naruto and Sakura walked to a bench in a secluded park underneath a large willow tree. Naruto held the cone between them, as they both lapped away at the delicious ice cream.

"This is amazing Naruto!"

"See? I told you! And you weren't going to have any because you were 'full'!" Naruto used his free hand to put full in finger quotations as he said it. Which got him a playful hit on the shoulder from his girlfriend.

Sakura took the cone out of Naruto's hand when there was a small amount of ice cream left, giving Naruto a seductive wink. Naruto, the ever clueless baka, simply gave Sakura a smug smile.

_I knew she would enjoy this ice cream. Next time I'm going to make sure she gets her own cone!_

Sakura still held Naruto with a seductive gaze, took the last of the ice cream into her mouth, then grabbed the back of his head and crashed her lips against his, instantly shoving her tongue and ice cream into his mouth.

A surprised Naruto quickly responded to the kiss and the two pushed the sweet treat into the other's mouth as their tongues passionately danced together for seven minutes. As they pulled away gasping Naruto smiled into his favorite cherry blossom's emerald eyes.

"That…was amazing Sakura…" Naruto breathed. _Leave it to my Sakura-chan to come up with something like that. _

Sakura smiled back at him. "I thought it was the fairest way to finish our ice cream."

"Note to self- NEVER let Sakura-chan get her own cone, ALWAYS insist that we share a cone…" Naruto said with a playful smirk.

"I don't know if I can do that Naruto. That was some good ice cream; I might want my own cone next time. You're going to have to give me something special to get me to agree to that." The pink-haired girl retorted with a playful smirk of her own.

"That sounds fair…" Naruto said in a husky voice before pressing his lips into his emerald-eyed angel's. Sakura pressed back and soon the two were engaged in another war of the tongues. Naruto snaked his arms around the waist of the woman of his dreams, and pulled her even closer, deepening their kiss. Sakura responded by placing her hands on the back of her baka's head and pulled him into her even tighter. The two's lips were pressed so tightly together that it hurt a little, but neither cared.

After 20 minutes of furious kissing, Naruto pulled back panting and gave his girlfriend a foxy grin. "So… do we have a deal?"

His emerald-eyed angel gave him a cute smile. "For now… I think we'll have to make this some sort of regular payment system to keep this deal in place."

The jinchuriki gave her a quick kiss, before standing up and scooping her into his arms.

"Naruto, what are you doing? I can walk just fine!" Sakura huffed.

"Sai said he read in a book that girls like being carried, I just decided to give it a try!"

"You took romantic advice from Sai? Really Naruto? You're such a baka…" the pink-haired kunoichi teased, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his chest.

"You don't seem to mind all that much." Naruto retorted with a smirk. She answered him by kissing his jacket-clad chest.

"Where to now?" she asked, looking up into his sapphire eyes.

"Well, it's getting kind of late. We could catch a movie if you want, or we could keep walking around, or we could go back to our room and curl up together." Naruto listed thoughtfully.

Sakura squeezed him tighter with a soft happy smile on her face. "I vote the last option."

"As you command, taichou!" Naruto joked, walking in the direction of their hotel.

The trip back to the hotel was enjoyed in silence by the happy couple, each with a soft smile plastered firmly on their faces.

* * *

Madara held one of his spies by the throat.

"Where is the list of new potential Akatsuki members?"

"Madara-sama… It's almost done, I just need another week. Please…"

The ancient Uchiha motioned for another one of his spies to take the scroll from the spy who was currently in his grasp. Once the scroll was safely in the other spy's grasp, Madara turned his gaze back to the man who's throat he was gripping.

"You've had more than enough time. I warned you that I didn't tolerate failure, yet you still had the gall to fail me. Now you will face the consequences of your actions."

The spy started screaming hysterically before he was sucked into another dimension, never to be seen again.

The spy who now had the scroll with potential Akatsuki members shivered as the Uchiha turned to him.

"You have exactly 24 hours to complete that list. You just witnessed what happens to those who fail me. I will expect to see you tomorrow with a complete list."

"Hhh… hai… Madara-sama." The spy quivered before disappearing into the night.

_I need to get new members quickly. If I give Naruto too much time to train he might become a serious problem…_

_

* * *

_

Sakura and Naruto were wrapped together in a tight embrace as they lay in the twin-sized bed in their room. Both stared into the others' eyes silently enjoying the warmth given off by their partner. Breaking from his hypnosis, the jinchuriki captured his girlfriend's lips and the two's tongues danced about in their mouths for five minutes before they had to pull back for air.

"Naruto…" the emerald-eyed angel gave her boyfriend an alluring smile. "We've only been dating for a little while. But tonight just feels so right…"

"What do you mean Sakura-chan?"

"I mean… I love you. I want to officially claim you as mine, and you claim me as yours."

"I love you too Sakura-chan. And I thought we already did that when we became an official boyfriend…" a clueless Naruto replied as he tried to figure out what his pink-haired girlfriend was getting at.

Sakura sighed. "You're still a total baka when it comes to women." Naruto responded with a quick pout.

"Tonight is perfect Naruto. Our date was so wonderful. I want to end tonight by fully giving myself to you." The pink-haired girl explained as she lovingly smiled into her boyfriend's eyes.

"Sakura… are you sure?"

"What… you don't want to have sex with me?" Sakura playfully smirked.

"NANI? No! Of course I do. You're the most beautiful girl in the world. I'm just perfectly fine with waiting until you are ready. I wouldn't want to do anything you didn't truly want." Naruto said softly.

"That's very sweet of you baka. But I wouldn't say I wanted it if I didn't mean it."

"YOSH! ALRIGHT SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto excitedly called out as he jumped out of the bed, and much to the kunoichi's frustration, out of her embrace.

"Naruto.. what are you doing? You're ruining the mood…" the frustrated kunoichi grumbled.

"Sorry Sakura-chan! But I need to make sure this is perfect! Naruto pulled a three pronged kunai out of his pack and threw it against the wall before disappearing in a flash.

"NA-RU-TO!" Sakura yelled.

* * *

Naruto appeared in his apartment in a flash. He quickly ran into his closet and pulled out a hidden box.

_I can't believe it! I'm finally going to get to put these gifts from pervy sage to use!_ The blonde thought excitedly. He opened the box and took out the romantic candles and the massage oils before disappearing in another flash.

* * *

_Stupid Naruto… I offer my virginity to him, and what does he do? Flashes away. I am going to beat him within an inch of his life, heal him, beat him within an inch of his life again, heal him, then soundly beat the hell out of him some more…_ Sakura thought with an angry expression on her face.

Suddenly Naruto appeared in a flash and Sakura's angry face softened considerably when she was what her knucklehead had in his arms.

"Sorry about that Sakura-chan, but I wanted this to be perfect so I had to go and get these." Naruto explained as he and some clones he summoned placed and lit candles around the room. Dispelling his clones, Naruto laid down in the bed and began kissing his girlfriend. He slowly took off her bra, and rolled her over.

Putting some oil on his hands, he began to rub his emerald-eyed angel's back.

"Ohhh… Naruto. I could get used to this." Sakura cooed.

Naruto leaned down and kissed her cheek. "And you were mad at me a few minutes ago…" he joked.

"Well you just flashed away without any sort of explanation baka!" Sakura huffed, as she tried to force an annoyed look onto her face. She failed however, due the amazing feeling of Naruto's massage. Instead her face stayed in a dreamy happy smile.

After 20 minutes of the best massage of her life, Sakura couldn't wait anymore. She flipped over, much to her boyfriend's surprise. Naruto had not mentally prepared himself and stood hypnotized by Sakura's breasts, which elicited a happy giggle from his girlfriend.

Sakura brought him out of his reverie with a soft kiss on the lips. "I want you now Naruto, I don't want to wait anymore."

"Are you absolutely sure Sakura?"

"Yes Naruto. I'm yours, and you're mine."

The two came together in a soft kiss, then stripped the other of their underwear.

Soft sapphire eyes met soft emerald eyes.

And with a smile on both faces, the two lovers offered themselves to the other.

* * *

Naruto awoke with a naked pink-haired goddess in his arms. _I can't believe last night was real. I really am the luckiest guy in the world…_ Sakura stirred and kissed him.

"Good morning Naruto-kun. Sleep well?" she said with a soft smile.

"Best sleep of my life. How about you Sakura-chan?" he replied matching her soft smile.

"Best sleep of my life too. We have two more days before we need to be at the temple, what do you want to do today?" The pink-haired girl asked a little too innocently.

"I can think of a few things…" Naruto replied with a smirk.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura stood before the gates of the large temple. The jinchuriki would have much rather stayed in the town where he had been making love to Sakura for the past two days in between dates. But he had a destiny to face.

_This is it…_ Naruto thought nervously.

His girlfriend noticed his nervous expression. "What's wrong?" she asked, capturing his eyes with her own loving ones.

"It's just… this is it Sakura-chan. This is where I'm supposed to become powerful enough to beat Madara… This is the beginning of the end of all of this. I just can't help but worry what will happen if I fail..."

"You won't fail." Sakura quickly interrupted with a confident tone. "You're my Naruto. You can do anything. And you have me, I won't let you fail. Believe it!" she winked.

Her boyfriend gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you Sakura-chan. Thank you for pushing until we were finally together. This is going to be a lot easier with you by my side."

"Damn straight!" Sakura boasted with a fist pump. Naruto gave her one more kiss. Grabbing her hand, the couple walked into the temple to take steps towards their destinies.

* * *

Whew! 8,057 words, a bit longer than the usual chapter, but I figured I would give the final chapter a bit more. It's extra fluffy and as you may have guessed, set up the sequel. Thanks to everyone who has read this, reviewed it, favorited it and all that good stuff. I truly appreciate it. I can't believe it's already finished! I'm waiting to see how Madara fights with his rinnegan and fan in the manga, and would also like to see how the Zetsu clones fight. I got some other things I'm going to be working on, but I think it's safe to guess that you'll be seeing the start of the sequel sometime near the end of the next month.

Basic plot- Naruto and Sakura face off against the Akatsuki and it's allies as they make their way towards the final confrontation with Madara.

Hmmm... I was planning on that being my summary for the sequel, but that kind of sucks... Ah well, I got a month or so to work on it. So keep your eyes peeled for it and my future works!

And again, thanks to everyone who took the time to review this story. Your reviews helped keep me motivated to continue and certainly made the decision of writing a sequel MUCH easier =)

Thanks again (and please do let me know what you think of the final chapter/the story in general... aka review! It would be really cool to somehow get 100 reviews on my first story!)

-NaruDeeds


End file.
